The Last Shift

July 27, 2021Leave a comment

I’m a nurse and I have worked the last shift – in the old days that was 11 PM to 7 AM, although most places have gone to 12s, so it is 7 P to 7 A. When you show up for the last shift, there is still a lot that can happen. It is far from over. However, it tends to be quieter with administration and many of the departments (and physicians) asleep at home unless called. As a midwife, I generally preferred last shift births because it was less hectic.

I would say the same for daylilies – their cycle is more like the 8 hour day, but the first shift is slower than in nursing. These are the early bloomers, often yellow trumpets plus a few brave early bloomers. The second shift is crazy, especially this year. Many of the first shift stayed late and a few of the last shift showed up early. Hectic, yes. Now, it is clearly the late shift – time to gear down and savor the last few weeks of the season.

I am going to focus on premiers since 7.18, since I was on a camping road trip last week. I have had numerous finales during that time . . . too many. I plan to do a month wrap-up post at the end of the month with all the July bloomers and their bloom date range. It will take hours to put together.

Premiers (with date of premier bloom if known)

Royal Palace Prince – Premier 7.25 (actually, while I was on vacation)

Glen Eyrie – Premier 7.25 (actually, while I was on vacation)

Premier 7.26 (actually, while I was on vacation)

Purple Corn Dancer – Premier 7.27 (She usually closes out my blooms, but I have new scapes on Adios Albuquerque, Navajo Curls and Dr Doom. IDK who will clock-out last this year).

Orange Vols – Premier 7.27 (actually, while I was on vacation)

Pizza Crust – Premier 7.27 (actually, while I was on vacation)

I now count 151 +/- cultivators that have bloomed this year. I have 3 more premiers (with scapes) coming. Occasionally, someone will through a brand new (not re-bloom) scape in August. One time, Santa’s Pants threw one in October. But, we can count on 154 +/- for the season. That puts us at about 86% bloom rate – one of our highest years. I need to look back.

From here on, the focus will be finales. There are lots so maybe I’ll just wait until the end of the month and tie it up there. IDK.

June Daylily Blooms A-Y (no Z yet)!

July 3, 20211 Comment

I’m back! My house is cleaner and I feel like I can pick-up the blog, again. Don’t worry, I spent my usual amount of time with my daylilies in the AM. I love getting photos of them – something to get out of bed for. After three years of a stressful job and a commute, I just had to clean because my poor home has been like a neglected garden. I needed to pull weeds and plant some new seeds.

I am going to show off my June blooms (A to Z) for June in this post. I am going to have a good bloom rate this year and it sort of scares me what peak will be like with all my plants so happy. Good thing the house is clean. I count 51 cultivators for June 2021. Last year, it was 50 in June – so close. I think I have about 180 cultivators now – almost 30% have bloomed.

Big Red Rhyme (my NOID name for her) premiered 6.22

Chief Four Fingers premiered 6.27 (with some bug damage but more buds ahead)

Dream Keeper premiered 6.11, finale was 7.1

“Fringe Benefit” premiered 6.27 (mislabeled bonus but I still call her that)

Happy Returns – I believe the real cultivator is yellow and some of my gold ones are actually Stella – this one premiered 6.25

Nurse’s Stethoscope (the only registered daylily I helped to name) premiered 6.24

Platinum Pink Pallet Whispers premiered 6.21

Purple Moonrise (larger bloom on the R, to the left is Orchid Moonrise) premier bloom 6.15

Purple Mystic (my name for NOID) premiered 6.24

Red Riddle (my name for NOID) premiered 6.23

Saratoga Springtime premier 6/3, finale 6.23 – The star of early daylily season. A big, fancy yellow trumpet.

Scorpio premier 6.26, finale 6.29. Only two buds for the first bloom ever after 5 years in my yard.

Stella premier 6.7 and dwindling – I don’t think we have a finale yet but maybe.

Let’s close the book on June for 2021 – It’s a wrap!

It’s almost a wrap!

August 5, 2020Leave a comment

Well, today just about wraps it up as far as premiers in my yard this year . . . other than Purple Corn Dancer all my cultivators with scapes have bloomed. 2020 brought 134 cultivators (two while I was on vaca) to my yard or a 78% bloom rate. Last year, I had 162 bloomers, a 95% bloom rate, and a rainy spring. So, 17% fewer blooms this year. Spring brought a drought and long hours of Corona Virus adaptation for work. I didn’t get the drip system fixed until mid June and I paid for it.

My next to last premier this year is Navajo Curls. I love her plump yellow petals. She has sort of an odd name for a blonde daylily. I wonder what Ned was thinking when he named her.

Enjoy the other flowers. Tomorrow, it is back to work I go.

Three

July 20, 2020Leave a comment

I had three charming premiers today, including one of my all-time favorite Ned Roberts spiders – Winds of Love. She always looks like she if floating on the breeze – probably influenced her name.

Kachina Firecracker also gave a first bloom of the year – She looks like Kachina Dancer to me. Cousins, no doubt

And, Nona’s Garnet Spider gave us a hello bloom today.

I did the counts of unbloomed with and without scapes. I believe we are at 117 cultivators that have bloomed now. I have a list of 16 more with unbloomed scapes – so that would come to a total of 133 or 78% bloom rate. That works for me – but it always bugs me why some don’t bloom (41 was my count). Navajo Rodeo, Cricket Call and Purple Grasshopper were big bloomers the last couple of years. Maybe I need to fertilize a bit more and refresh dirt if it has settled. The front garden had several that no-showed this year, but I just put the sprinkler in a few weeks ago, so maybe the drought was the issue. Maybe I will get some late scapes, too.

The southwest corner of my Southwest Garden today 7.19.20

Last year this day I had 70+ in bloom. But, last spring was so cold that my earlier bloomers didn’t show until early to mid July – and the mid bloomers were going by then, too. 70+ is insane. I prefer the more gradual peak.

Catching Up is Hard to Do

July 19, 2020July 19, 2020Leave a comment

I spent some time today trying to re-orient myself to the new lot of daylilies that are in bloom since I got home from my road trip. I got the spent scapes cut off and tried to make a list of finales. I would like to make a list of all the ones with scapes not yet bloomed and all the ones that aren’t trying.

Anyway, I went back through the 7.8 and 7.16 photos and found more premiers. Plus, there were 5 premiers today (at least first bloom since I got home). The total is 114 that have bloomed. That’s a 67% bloom rate. To hit 80%, we will need 37 cultivators to bloom. Twenty-three more. That’s tight but we can hope. I’ll count unbloomed scapes tomorrow.

Here are the premiers from today:

And, to backtrack, here are the premiers from 7.16.20 that I finally had time to look at today. I always come home to rain – so these guys look like they just showered.

Autumn Jewels looks sad but she bloomed 7.16.1

Papa Long Legs first and last bloom 7.16.20

So, that is it . . . back to a normal pace except work starts Monday. However, I am suppose to have July off so I plan to work from home unless they demand otherwise. Plus, I am waiting out the two-week COVID risk.

I worked on transplanting succulent cuttings and transplanting a few succulents into larger pots. I don’t have tons of love left for my orchids . . . so I use those pots but fill the holes with moss. It takes a while but it is relaxing.

Just for the record, here is a list of all of the finales so far for 2020: Apache Uprising (I missed this one but it did bloom), Ruby Spider (today), Lime Frost, Return a Smile (unless she reblooms), Early Bird Cardinal, Prairie Wildfire, Catherine Irene, Thin Man, Comanche Princess, The Colorado Kid, Blue Beat, Mildred Mitchell, Mauna Loa, Mesa Verde, Heron’s Cove, Canyon Colors (today), Jungle Queen, Wineberry Candy, Just Plum Happy, Raspberry Propeller, Santa’s Pants, Red Mystery, Bella Boo, Nosferatwo, Coral Taco, Pink Enchalada, Pink Rain Dance, Zuni Eye (I missed this one but it did bloom), Papa Long Legs, Land of Enchantment, All American Chief, Purple Many Faces, Indian Love Call, Laughing Feather, Coyote Laughs, Kokopelli, Hopi Jewel, Mount Echo Sunrise, Holy Sombrero, Ojo De Dios, Rocky Mountain Pals, Kachina Firecracker, Kiva Dancer, Echo Canyon, Indian Giver, Funny Valentine, Wild Horses, Inwood, Primal Scream, Lacy Doily, Nurse’s Stethoscope, Canyon Colors (today), Kachina Dancer (today), Apache Bandana (today). Not bad for 6 weeks!

Spikes or Waves

June 25, 2020Leave a comment

Ah, the talk of pandemics. Nothing like having a doctorate in nursing at a historic time like this. I almost wish I was back in biostats or epidemiology class right now.

People debate if this is a spike in the first wave or a second wave. Hmmm, well, it reminds me a little of the epidemic of daylily blooms in summer. There are days with 8+ premier blooms (new cases) and days with only 1 or 2. Are the busy days waves or spikes within a wave? IDK that there is a right and wrong answer – but I would say the second.

Like the epidemic, we will see a peak and a decline after that. Fortunately or unfortunately, daylilies are seasonal. There will be no second wave during flu season . . . or Christmas.

So, today was a good day if you are into low numbers. I only had 2 premiers. Both are old daylilies from my early days of collecting these plants. Lady Fingers is one I got for my landscaping circa 9 years ago. It is simple yellow – but a spider, not a trumpet. I like the green throat.

The other one from today is Inwood, who is having a better than average year. Her buds are healthy and she has more spikes than average. I was delighted to see such a pretty bloom. She reminds me a bit of Canyon Colors, who is having a bad year and I think it is because the grass is taking over her pot. As soon as her sad scape gets done blooming, I will dumb her our and dig the grass off of her roots.

Fall project – I think I will start working on putting my Southwest Garden daylilies in better pots, like my daylilies out front. I think they are more protective against tree roots AND after my sewer issue last winter, I am reminded that my garden is on the easement. That means if the water pipe gives, the City digs. If they are potted, it will be much easier to deal with. I have them in pots, just not better quality ones. I may do half this year and half next. It will be way easier than digging them up the first time!

Anyway – We will see if tomorrow brings a peak, but I think it is all one big summer wave. PS – I have 32 folders of cultivators on my computer now – out of 171 possible. That’s almost 20% bloom rate. Less than 3 weeks since the first bloom. Let’s see where we are in a week. I should do a graph like the epidemiologists. Really.

I Have My Droughts

June 24, 2020June 24, 2020Leave a comment

I left the new sprinkler system on too long – I got on a video meeting and totally forgot. I am sure I will have the water bill from h@## this summer. Why??? Because see the map below – the darkest red is an “exceptional drought”. The blue circle is my home region. It is a drought year, and getting worse each day.

It’s the kind of year where there are less scapes and more buds that just turn brown and fall-off. Two years ago, we were probably in worse shape at this point . . . and that is why I started to think about more drip systems. I mean, mine are DIY but they do the trick to make the ground moist. Even if they cost more than mom nature. Water now . . . before the restrictions!

I had a few premiers today. Let’s start with Ruby Spider. While I always liked daylilies, she is the first one I looked forward to every year. She is the first one that had her own unique flower-ality.

Primal Scream – I had to have this one early in my daylily days because of the name! I got this sad, inexpensive fan that took a couple years to bloom. Then, the garden store sold me something they labeled as Desert Flame – but I am 99.9% sure it is also Primal Scream. So, I have one on the porch that is big and blooming.

Mount Echo Sunrise – A Robert’s spider with the coolest green throat and beautiful light yellow color. She lives up to her name.

Then – one of my mystery daylilies that were dying in a garden I put them in before I was into daylilies. They were little seedling sized things. I noticed that about the same time I realized my potted daylilies were 2-3 X the size as my in-ground babies. So, I put them in a pot together not having a clue what was what. I think this may be Nosferatu but I really don’t know, so she is called Nosferatwo for now.

I have my droughts that it will be as high of a bloom rate as last year. There are some cultivators who are still small and scapeless. These poor babies came from down South – daylily land. Here they are in the stinkin’ desert doing their best despite their droughts. (I had 21 in bloom today . . . let’s see what tomorrow brings.)

Four for the Price of One

June 16, 2020Leave a comment

Wow – no blog since Thursday. Why? First – it is pretty much the same 4 bloomers off and on every day. Second – it is camping season and still busy at work. I blog about my travel on my on another blog – so I just didn’t have time for both last night.

Where are my other blooms? Well, last year, I was behind this year with bloom rate. But it was rainy and my overall bloom rate was the highest ever. But, the year before that was an exceptional drought and I already had several more cultivators in bloom, but a lower overall bloom rate for the season.

My only premier since last post: Happy Returns 6.15.20

My theory is easy – the rain is the stimulant to form scapes and decide to bloom for another year. It happens in March and April, the rain. I can water, but in a desert, I can’t keep up with mom nature. When it finally warms up, there are lots of scapes ready to ascend into full blooms.

Drought years tend to warm-up quickly. So, those daylilies that did form scapes because they did OK on less rain emerge earlier due to the daily temps. But, overall, there are fewer scapes that formed because of less moisture in March and April.

This year, we are somewhere in between. I have 85 in scape now – about half. I always start to worry if I don’t see scapes by late June – perhaps this cultivator needs a year off.

I have several that look ready to pop. Laughing Feather, Ojo de Dios, Mesa Verde, Funny Valentine to name a few. I guess I need to wait until tomorrow to see what opens up. For tonight, you get four nights of blog for the price of one read. Soon, I won’t be able to do that and stay caught-up.

Route 66

July 24, 2019Leave a comment

Route 66 is, of course, a famous highway that runs partially through the Southwest. We usually pass over it going and coming from our spring road trip to the desert. Route 66 is also the name of one of my favorite daylilies. It was the first place name daylily that I got and after that, I was hooked. My daylily names are like points on a road trip a lot of the time.

Route 66, Flagstaff, Arizona

Today, I had 66 cultivators blooming in my yard. I was thinking about Route 66 (she was in bloom and is the lead photo) and my own route to having 66 daylilies in bloom in one day. In 2015, I had 7. I now have 10X the number of daylilies. How did I get here? . . . well, I started at local nurseries. Then I tried one online site, then another. Eventually, I got attached to my Ned Roberts spiders and found a couple growers with good supplies of those. (I now have around 70 of his cultivators.) I also found the lily auction – which was fun but I get into trouble on that site. LOL.

Some of the daylilies I got in 2015/16 are having their first bloom this year. I think it takes them time to adapt to the desert – and last year, we had the exceptional drought. The year before that, I transplanted them into buried pots – so that was another adjustment. Anyway – it is cool to finally see some of these after tending them for a few years.

A couple of our Premiers today have been around that long and finally blooming. One is Navajo Grey Hills and another is Fringe Benefit. Navajo Grey Hills was a sought after Ned Roberts Southwest named daylily. Fringe Benefit, on the other hand, was a bonus plant that looks nothing like the Fringe Benefit I see online. But, oh well. I honestly had no idea what it looked like until today. I like both of them a lot!

So, without further ado, here are the Premiers (it’s not slowing down – So far, 133 blooms or about 74% bloom rate. Last year this date we were at 123 – and I have a lot more scapes left this year.):

“Fringe Benefit” bonus plant 7/23

Navajo Grey Hills 7/23

Fol da Rol 7/23

Lime Frost 7/23

Glen Eyrie 7/23

Adios Albuquerque 7/23

Bold Tiger 7/23

Eye-70

July 22, 2019July 22, 2019Leave a comment

Oh, perhaps more like aye yi yi. I woke up to 70 cultivars in bloom today. Let’s see, I had 13 the day I left on vacation on 7/5. I’ve slept in my own bed 5 going on 6 nights since then.

Thirteen is a good number of blooms. Interesting but not overwhelming. But now, just 5 days at home later, I’m at 118/180 daylilies that have bloomed. We went from 7% to 66%.

The problem is that I had trips and conferences to prepare for along with two sick dogs . . . And, work. So, I’ve been using my cellphone for daily shots. I use my Powershot, too, but haven’t edited or organized anything since June 25 or something.

Today, I got 2 days organized and played a bit with my daylily software. Here it is midnight thirty but I am more caught up. I just know that I’ve been so distracted this year that the blog in mediocre because my passion is not here yet.

Next weekend, I stay home. Hopefully, I can keep catching up. Aye yi yi, I need to stay on the Interstate of progress after I get some sleep. The daylilies are already blooming. Can you hear them?