The more you chase it, the more it eludes you. Sleep is similar. The header photo is All American Chief and friend 7.8.
Busy day today with 50 new blooms. Here we go:
I need to go chase butterflies 🦋. We will see what tomorrow hatches.
The next two posts are a listing of the daylilies that have bloomed ANYTIME during July – even if they started in June. It is a large list but also a colorful one. I believe only 3 of my cultivators were totally done in June – Saratoga Springtime, Scorpio and yellow Stella de Oro.
If you like Ned Roberts cultivators, you have come to the right place because I have about 70 of them, and most (except Navajo Curls and Adios Albuquerque) that are going to bloom the year have bloomed sometime during July.
I went to the rodeo here last night, so I am all practiced-up and ready to go.
Golden Eclipse 7.16-present
July Round-up N-Z – click here for more beautiful July blooms!
Please contact my business – Art and Nature from the Hartt for sales questions/availability.
What an interesting year! Not only have I reached semi-retirement age, I am having an amazing daylily bloom year. The drip systems with miracle grow soil replacement paid off in spades. It is honestly overwhelming because it takes an hour just to photograph them. I spend about 5 hours a day (not counting the painting) on daylilies right now.
I would not call this a peak – because on 7/3 we hit 60. It has been in the 50s and 60s each day since. And . . . drumroll . . . today I had 63. Last year, I charted the peak and it was clearly one day at 40, the other days were 20s at best. Granted, I was on vacation the last 2 years this week, but I think the numbers are an accurate reflection of a short, less intense peak. This isn’t a peak, it is a Southwest Mesa – and a grand one, at that.
I had 6 premiers today. Laudy. Here they are:
That’s all folks! Off to paint some daylilies in the basement while the temps reach 100 today.
Last year, I posted all my blooms each week on Sunday since it is too much to do daily. This year, I am going to try to do a recap at the end of the month. So, for June 2020, we had the following 50:
Today, I woke-up late because I worked until midnight on a supply list for one of our new programs. It is busy on top of COVID-19 – the world of nursing academics is and will stay upside-down.
I was foggy . . . but when consciousness returned, I realized it was Juneteenth. I knew nothing about Juneteenth until I lived in Galveston and read a book by the same name. It is a day worth remembering.
We live in a world that seems shaken by so much right now. But, I am free to go out in my yard and take photos of the 13 bloomers of the day. All are different colors, and I treat each the same. I am free to write the blog. I can put just about anything I want in this blog – that is freedom. I can be a crazy daylily lady – that is freedom.
The other cool thing about today is that my Nurse’s Stethoscope daylily bloomed her premier bloom. She is the one I suggested the name for through the Daylily Society. She is named for the Show Me Your Stethoscope episode of the View. Maybe COVID-19 has helped the world understand all of the capabilities of my profession.
I had a few other premiers – I do believe the peak is beginning to build. Canyon Colors had a premier bloom today. There is so much grass in her put that she didn’t put out many scapes. I was going to replant her in March, but couldn’t get out to buy the soil before she got too big.
Indian Love Call had a nice first bloom. She is loaded with buds.
Land of Enchantment had a premier bloom that looks almost as beat-up as Kokopelli did yesterday. I think it is bud damage from the big windstorm a couple weeks ago.
It is Friday, summer solstice is tomorrow. It just feels like a significant day.
My flowers today are dedicated to those who don’t know the same freedoms that I have known. And, they are dedicated to the frontline workers during COVID-19 – my Nurse’s Stethoscope seems to say “thanks” to my colleagues.
It’s my home weekend tomorrow. A few things planned around the yard. Solstice . . . Summer Solstice. And, I get a little sad knowing that the days will start shrinking, again.
Enjoy the show below . . . almost time to limit to just premier blooms in the daily blog.
Yellow trumpet daylilies are like appetizers before a 6 course meal. They let you know that the season is coming but leave you wanting more. It always feels like I get 2 weeks of yellow trumpets, and then the action starts. Somehow, colorful spider Dream Keeper shows up with the yellow trumpets – ahead of her time.
So, today I had some colorful premier blooms. First, Funny Valentine. She is an older daylily that I keep on my porch. She budded at the same time as Saratoga Springtime, so I have been waiting for her appearance on stage.
And, another Robert’s spider joins Dream Keeper as a premier today – Ojo de Dios. I love the stately color combo of this neatly curled spider.
And, my first near-blue for 2020 gave a premier showing – Blue Beat!
And, there are still yellow trumpets blaring out their tune – Stella de Oro – the most popular trumpet in town.
Happy Returns, who looks almost like a twin to Stella this year.
And, Saratoga Springtime.
I think there will be more premiers tomorrow. Laughing Feather is close . . . so close. And, I am up to about 100 cultivators in scape. Hopefully, peak happens before my camping road trip next month. I just extended by a day.
Why is it that we always want what we can’t have? Early in my daylily addiction, when I had planted my first mail-order roots, I became fascinated with blue daylilies. Well, actually, daylilies lack the genetics to make blue. So, you know, I became infatuated with “near blue” daylilies whose mosiac genetics lead them to look blue. This predates my addiction to Ned Roberts spiders. All my near blues are in pots and come into the back porch for the winter because they are evergreen daylilies and prefer warmer temps. My near blues have a special spot in the front yard where the pots live from March-October.
So, one of my Premiers today is a new near blue added last year called Baby Blue Eyes. I honestly thought I had killed her because the drought hit and, after my skin cancer surgery, I just gave up on the yard. I kept her on the porch, though, despite the fact she looked dried up. And, come spring, she came to life. I love the colors – she is a true near blue.
Baby Blue Eyes 7/30
I am going to show off my other near blues because their bloom cycle is nearing an end. My favorite is The Colorado Kid. I was just googling place names to see if there were daylilies with that name – and she popped up. I think this is year 4 for her – she is our mascot flower. She had a lot of blooms this year and has a couple of buds left. Baby Blue Eyes has similar coloring.
The Colorado Kid – July, 2019
I also have Blue Beat, an early addition and a nice blue replica.
Blue Beat – July, 2019
Bluegrass Music is a must-have blue daylily. I got pretty ripped off by the place I bought her from, but she has paid off with several years of blooms.
Bluegrass Music – July, 2019
Mildred Mitchell is an older cultivator, but she caught my eye as having a nice blue -looking color in the right light.
Mildred Mitchell – July, 2019
Prairie Blue Eyes is not in my blue section, but she also has a blue hue at times.
Prairie Blue Eyes – July, 2019
I got Heron’s Cove as a near blue – but moved her because she rarely looks blue – but occasionally, I see a bit of a bluish tint in her.
Heron’s Cove – July, 2019
OK – So I had two other Premiers today – both Ned Roberts spiders. Golden Eclipse showed her first bloom in my yard today. I have had her 2-3 years. The grower is someone I got a lot of my Neds from and she said it was an ugly brown color and to be sure I really wanted it. I think she is a pretty gold – a unique color for a daylily.
Golden Eclipse 7/30
And, big bloom Purple Thunderbird is back this year.
Purple Thunderbird 7/30
I will be out of premiers soon with three in one day. I maybe have 6-12 left in my whole yard. Honestly, I will be glad for it to slow down. I had 58 today.
The peak lives on with 72 blooms today. One of the things about photographing so many daylilies before I have to leave for work is that I get in a rush. I focus on the flower and hit the shutter button. Sometimes, when I am editing later, I find stuff that I didn’t notice at the time.
My favorite photobombs have other daylilies that I didn’t notice in the background – like Happy Hopi today:
Happy Hopi with friends Laughing Feather and Zuni Thunderbird 7/26
And, the most common photobombs are when I cut off a petal in the shot by a lot. Why am I struggling to get photos of Navajo Grey Hills?
Navajo Grey Hills 7/26
Of course, there are occasionally cat photobombs:
Skinwalker and my cat, Sokasbai – 7/25
Or, dog photobombs:
Blue Beat and my dog, Maizzy – 7/25
The most embarrassing, though, are the foot photobombs. The flower is at a weird angle, so you try to bend over so you can get a front shot. What was I thinking?
Black Ice and my feet – 7/26
OK – so what about Premiers. Only three today. The pace slows a bit, although I saw my neighbors at dinner and the first thing they talked about was my giant daylilies. So, it isn’t over yet!
Nona’s Garnet Spider was a bonus. She hasn’t been a consistent bloomer but is putting on a good show of buds this year.
Nona’s Garnet Spider – 7/26
Autumn Jewels . . . I think this was a bonus, too. She is related to El Desperado. I had a huge El Desperado for years but lost it to the weird, cold, wet spring. I lost a couple and several had setbacks . . . but so many are blooming this year that haven’t before or the regulars have a higher bud count than usual. It’s interesting the yin and yang of this year. Anyway – I got a new El Desperado and it is just putting up scapes now. I like both of these cultivators.
Autumn Jewels – 7/26
And, Nearly Wild is another bonus plant – she looks like her ancestor, the ditch lily or Fulva. I am sure that is where she gets her name.
Nearly Wild – 7/26
It is raining, again. We will see what that brings.
Life changes. This summer is so different from last year. Jobs, schedules, weather. So, I returned from Utah yesterday afternoon to an overwhelming thunderstorm that wiped out a lot of yesterday’s blooms. I decided to start fresh today, kind of. I leave for a work conference in Atlanta on Wednesday. Next Sunday, I can start my regular routine for daylily season. Lol.
So, a lot of Premier blooms (to me) today. Let’s start with my Ned Roberts spider collection:
Apache Bandana 7/14
Black Arrowhead 7/14
Chokecherry Mountain 7/14
Mount Echo Sunrise 7/14
Feather Woman 7/14
Navajo Rodeo 7/14
Rocky Mountain Pals 7/14
Talon 7/14
Zuni Thunderbird 7/14
Echo Canyon 7/14
Chief Four Fingers 7/14
Happy Hopi 7/14
Aztec Firebird 7/14
Laughing Feather 7/14
Iktomi 7/14
Pink Enchilada 7/14
Pink Rain Dance 7/14
Raspberry Propeller 7/14
And, the other Premier blooms:
Holy Sombrero 7/13
Isaac 7/14
Stephanie Returns 7/14
Catherine Irene 7/14
Pink and Cream 7/14
Early Bird Cardinal 7/14
Blue Beat 7/14
Primal Scream 7/14
Ruby Spider 7/14
Passionate Returns 7/14
Purple de Oro 7/14
Santa’s Pants 7/14
Lady Fingers 7/14
Red Riddle 7/14
Pardon Me 7/14
Prairie Blue Eyes 7/14
Route 66 7/14
Orange Flurry 7/14
Strutter’s Ball 7/14
Mini Pearl 7/14
Purple Mystery (hmmmmmm- Strutter’s Ball, perhaps?) 7/14
Wineberry Candy 7/14
Prairie Wildfire 7/14
That’s like almost 40 new cultivars since I left 9 days ago! Overwhelmed doesn’t say it with another trip coming up. I have no clue on bloom rate, but the cold, wet spring mostly seems to have helped.
Reruns:
Yellow Punch 7/14
Comanche Princess 7/14
Return a Smile 7/14
The Colorado Kid 7/14
Papa Long Legs 7/14
Land of Enchantment 7/14
Canyon Colors 7/14
Hopi Jewel 7/14
Ojo de Dios 7/14
Echo Canyon 7/14
Indian Love Call 7/14
Treasure of the Southwest 7/14
Yellow Stella 7/14
Funny Valentine 7/14
Petite Petticoats 7/14
Purple Many Faces 7/14
All American Chief 7/14
Ok, that’s enough. Battery is dead. Several Finales while gone: Saratoga Springtime, Dream Keeper, Chama Valley.
If you are going to miss the start of peak bloom, Utah is a great place to do it. Also amazing colors.
What a strange week . . . 3 standard deviations from the mean. So, I apologize for no blog since Sunday. The reorganization has hit at work. I worked 12 hour days on Monday and Thursday. Tuesday, I had this skin cancer removed . . . long story short is that I hope like heck it stays healthy until the graft next Tuesday. Wednesday was my eye exam – and I worked until 10 PM. And, today – a steady 6 hours of work with everything in motion. I will get even more new students, I got a new boss (3rd boss in as many weeks), I haven’t even gotten all the new students from the last batch re-settled. And, then, I heard my calling. Doors may open. Let’s leave it at that for now.
My yard has fallen way down on my priority list. I have no idea if I can dig up any lilies this fall with all this noise in my life. Really, my energy has changed this year and the noise is deafening. Speaking of deaf . . . yea, that, too. That said, things are beginning to move in new directions. I let go and started living for a new vision. This created some feng shi space, I guess. Things are moving after a very long, stagnant period. How long do we fertilize something that never blooms?
So, enough of my excuses – here are my flowers for the week:
Finales:
Blue Beat 8.16
Pink and Cream 8.17
Other bloomers:
Purple Corn Dancer 8.13
Indian Sky 8.16
Heirloom Heaven 8.13
Ruby Stella 8.13
Dream Catcher 8.16
No August scapes – no returns, yet, from my “returns” daylilies. No rainy season. A quiet fall in the garden. Which is probably good given everything else in my life. It is a camping weekend and I am home. Too much going on today . . . and this week. I may try for a one-night wonder trip near home tomorrow if I feel up to it. I need to focus on healing my life.
Colorado Kid Daylilies 