Late June/Early July Daylily Blooms: A Peak Season Update

July is here, and with it comes peak season. I don’t think we are quite to peak yet, but it is approaching quickly. My day starts with photographing each daylily in bloom. Then I feed dogs, irrigate, jog for an hour. When I return, I sit on the front porch and edit the photos. Then, I put them in folders online and post to my personal Facebook page. By then, it’s 2 PM and time for breakfast!

I have had a bunch of new ones since my last post. I will put them in a gallery below. I’ve had 50 new ones since my last post last week!!!

I have had 73 cultivators bloom so far this season out of approximately 190. I lost some last winter. I really need to update my inventory in the software program. Based on those numbers, my bloom rate is about 38% currently. My hope is for 80% this season.

Today, the rain came. Finally! I am hoping for a good monsoon season. We need it. The drought lingers and is growing to the north. So many wildfires out west. I’m surprised that my daylilies are as happy as they are all things considered.

I adore daylily season. But it is always a lot of work that takes a chunk of the day with the photography. However, at this elevation, heat and humidity, the blooms don’t last long. Somedays, they are pretty faded by noon. They look like melted wax to me.

It’s a very different summer with my civic volunteer work. I adore my mornings on the porch editing daylily photos. Finding balance is hard in a “drought of time.”

Catcha next week. I hope your 4th of July garden brings you joy. Sometimes, we are best to focus on the small things right before our eyes and feel gratitude.

Capturing Exquisite Daylily Photography: Tools and Techniques

Hot Fun!

It’s the time of the season for heat. The monsoons have evaporated for the last week or two. It’s 94 today, suppose to be 100 on Sunday. I wonder what the temp spike will do for my cultivators but also look forward to a mountain get-away from the heat wave next week.

Nurse’s Stethoscope

Buttered Popcorn, Anyone?

It’s odd to only have one first-of-the-season bloom on a day like today. But, perhaps a good day to think about Buttered Popcorn. Or maybe it is just that it is 5:30 already and I am getting hungry. Too hot to walk the dogs for an hour or so. Dinner is a ways off. Buttered popcorn – YES! Can I DoorDash that? LOL.

Buttered Popcorn

Daylily Photography Processes and Improvements

I am curious what other daylily photographers are using for their photos. I use to use my Canon Powershot and had no complaints. Except, I had to download the photos and edit them to upload them to my online drive. As my daylily collection grew, my time for photo editing shrunk.

All American Chief

I then shifted to my Kindle for a year or two because of the large screen for focus. It worked OK, but was an awkward size and getting the photos to the online drive was still a pain.

Papa Longlegs

Now, I use my Samsung Galaxy A52. The camera is decent. I honestly don’t see much difference between it and the Canon for my purposes, and I think it is better than the Kindle. It’s easy to upload to my online drive, share to social media, and even blog from my phone (although I prefer my PC for blogging.) Since I use my photos as a tracking method and daylily art reference, I find it adequate and time-efficient. I’m not after super high-quality photographic images to sell.

Pandora’s Box

I would love to hear from other daylily bloggers and photographers about their camera and daily photo process.

Add a Splash of Color to Your Space!

Speaking of daylily art – my original paintings and art prints are on sale ALL SUMMER at my Until the Last Daylily Blooms sale on Etsy. This one of Chief Four Fingers is one of my favorites. The original was acrylic on tile, giving this painting a unique texture. The signed prints look adorable in an 8X8 frame and add a splash of color to any space! Click this link or the photo to go to the Etsy listing! Only $9 currently!!!

Chief Four Fingers daylily signed print.

Cheddar Cheese and Buttered Popcorn

I always chuckle at the food named daylilies. I had Cheddar Cheese and Buttered Popcorn both in bloom today. This was a first bloom for 2023 for Buttered Popcorn 🍿. I’m getting a craving now.

Other “first for 23” blooms for 7.11 – Amazon Day – were Mauna Loa, Purple Moonrise, and Pueblo Dancer. Please check out my reel with photos.

Legacy Lily

It was the year I was working on my doctorate degree (2015) that The View had the controversy because they complained that a nurse was wearing a “doctor’s stethoscope.” There was an uprising of nurses in what was known as the “show me your stethoscope” response.

Nurse’s Stethoscope 7.1

So, I was on the AHS Facebook page at that time and suggested someone name a daylily “Nurse’s Stethoscope.) And so they did. (McCutcheon, 2016.) I smile every year when she blooms. And, so today, she did.

Buttered Popcorn 7.1

My other premiers today were Buttered Popcorn, another giant sized flower, and Hopi Jewel. Such different shapes and colors today.

Here we are month 2 of daylily season and I’ve had 35 cultivators bloom. That’s 20% of my collection. By the end of July, 80% ish will likely bloom. That’s about 112 more than current. We could get there with 3-4 new ones a day. It’s not a bad pace but it will likely accelerate as all hell breaks loose in the garden. Let’s see what tomorrow brings.

July Daylily Roundup A-M

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.

Alabama Jubilee 6.26-7.10
All American Chief 6.22-7.9
Apache Bandana 6.30-7.10
Autumn Jewels 7.16-present
Aztec Firebird 7.8-7.31
Baby Blue Eyes 7.6-7.27
Baja 7.10-7.29
Bella Boo 7.2-7.16
Bela Lugosi 7.4-7.26
Big Red Rhyme (NOID) 6.22-7.11
Black Arrowhead 7.6-7.30
Blackthorne 7.6-7.13
Black Eyed Susan 7.4-7.19
Black Ice 7.4-7.18
Blue Beat 7.9-7.17
Buttered Popcorn 7.7-7-25
Candy Cane Dreams 7.1-7.19
Canyon Colors 6.15-present
Catherine Irene 6.24-7.13
Chaco 6.27-present
Cheddar Cheese 7.3-7.17
Cherokee Star 7.9-8.1
Cheyenne Eyes 7.6-7.19
Chief Four Fingers 6.12-7.15
Chokecherry Mountain 7.5-7.27
Chorus Line 7.6-presend
Classy Lady 7.6-7.29
Coburg Fright Wig 7.11-7.30
Comanche Princess 6.18-7.11
Coral Taco 7.2-7.16
Cricket Call 7.3-7.17
Cripple Creek 7.19-present
Dancing Maiden 7.16-present
Desert Icicle 7.26-present
Dr Doom 7.30-present
Dream Catcher 7.14-present
Dream Keeper 6.11-7.1
Early Bird Cardinal 6.27-7.13
Echo Canyon 6.21-7.10
El Desperado 7.17-present
Fairytale Pink 7.11-7.17
Feather Woman 7.5-7.9
Fine Time Lucille 7.10-7.17
Fol de Rol 7.4-7.17
Fooled Me 7.10-7.16
Frans Hals 7.15-present
“Fringe Benefit” 6.27-7.12 (mislabeled bonus)
Funny Valentine 6.20-7.8
Ghost Ranch 7.12-7.17
Glen Eyrie 7.25-7.30 (started while I was on vaca 7.19-24)

Golden Eclipse 7.16-present

Happy Hopi 7.7-7.31
Happy Returns 6.27-7.12
Heavenly Curls 7.5-7.17
Heirloom Heaven 7.25-present
Hesperus 7.12-present
Holy Sombrero 7.7-7.25
Hopi Jewel 6.27-7.17
Iktomi 7.9-7.29
Indian Love Call 7.13-7.27
Indian Sky 7.13-present
Indian Giver 6.30-7.17
Inwood 6.22-7.12
Jungle Queen 7.1-7.19-24? Finished during vacation
Just Plumb Happy 7.4-7.15
Kachina Dancer 6.30-7.16
Kokopelli 6.25-7.19
Lacy Doily 7.3-7.16
Lady Fingers 6.23-7.19
Land of Enchantment 6.23-7.11
Lime Frost 7.11-7.16
Lobo Lucy 7.13-7.31
Longlesson Showoff 7.5.7.18
Lullaby Baby 7.7 to present
Mama Cuna 7.11-present
Marque Moon 7.13-7.19 (ended 7.19-7.24 during vaca)
Mauna Loa 6.27-7.10
Maya Cha Cha 7.4-7.19
Medicine Feather 7.5-7.18
Melon Balls 7.6-7.15
Mesa Verde 6.15-7.13
Mini Pearl 6.26-7.31
Mount Echo Sunrise 6.28-7.19

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.

Giant Yellow Monsters

It was a day of fewer premiers today. That was actually kind of nice – although, I had 56 total in bloom. I think 40 was my top bloom day on 7/2 last year. Maybe the peak will last a while longer this year?

Anyway – the common thread between the premiers today is that they are all BIG yellow flowers. I feel like photography robs them of their significance because it takes away the perspective. The first half of June is little, simple yellow flowers. Then comes the color diversity. And, in July, the Yellow Monsters arrive.

The three today are Happy Hopi (another Roberts spider), Holy Sombrero (an old bonus with huge ruffled blooms), and Buttered Popcorn (a new “local nursery” addition this year). Other giant yellow of July are Hesperus (waiting to bloom) and Cheddar Cheese (who is in bloom, but not today). There are some other notable yellow bloomers that are not small – Mount Echo Sunrise (fairly pale yellow), Lady Fingers, Cripple Creek, Skinwalker, Desert Icicle, Taco Twister and Navajo Curls. Maybe I will do a post on that collection once they all hatch. These aren’t trumpets – they are monsters!

Here are today’s premiers:

Buttered Popcorn 7.7
Happy Hopi 7.7
Holy Sombrero 7.7
Size comparison – Holy Sombrero next to my cell phone.

My routine is the same – I get up and take the photos with cell and camera following the same path everyday so I don’t miss anything (too often). Then I post to Facebook from my phone. I download photos from the Powershot and write the blog. Downloading the photos is painful because I get so sleepy – like fighting drugs but I don’t that that is from my thyroid tablet – just the heat.

Finales: I believe Orchid Moonrise is at finale. I will check for others as I cut scapes this week.

Oh, I got past my painter’s block and did a small coaster of Land of Enchantment. Not my best ever, but a start. I am keeping her as a symbol of getting unstuck and being semi retired! If you are interested in purchasing a daylily tile, please reach out to cathy.hartt55@gmail.com and or follow my Facebook page (link below).

Land of Enchantment coaster.