Sleeping In

August 10, 2018Leave a comment

The season winds down, and I find myself hitting my snooze a couple extra times. The work of the daylilies has gotten to be a lot less intensive. It has positives and negatives. Here are today’s bloomers:

Finales:

Nearly Wild 8.9

Pizza Crust 8.9

The rest from 8.9:

Purple Corn Dancer

Pink and Cream

Dream Catcher 8.9

For fun, let’s look at the Walkway Garden cultivators that bloomed last year, but didn’t bloom this year. I wonder why? Drought? Adapting to pots? Neighboring plants got bigger and blocked sunlight?

Little Cadet 2017

Best Seller 2017

Chama Valley

Fine Time Lucille 8.9

Fol de Rol 2017

Pardon Me 2017

Western Sandstone 2017

Tis the season to check these pots and see if they need dividing. Then, there are the ones that have never bloomed in my yard – ever. I think 1 more year and some may get recycled. It seems only fair to give them another year in the pots to see. They are Happy Happy, Scorpio, Coberg Fright Wig, Navajo Blanket, Sanctuary in the Sky, Fringe Benefit, Carlotta, and Quilt Patch.

I wish I had the energy that I did last year because time is getting shorter. Sometimes I wish camping season and daylily season did not run concurrently. I read my blog from last year, and I was burying pots every spare second. Now, it feels like too much to add dirt to the bottoms of the pots that have settled. And, I do need to dig up a couple in the Southwest garden and put in pots. Dividing is easier in pots, though. I guess it is my year not to bloom. Droughts happen, and sometimes it isn’t about water.

Switched at Birth?

June 26, 2017June 26, 2017Leave a comment

I went camping this weekend, so there was one day that I missed my blooms. I got home today at 4, and rounded the corner to my outside porch. I start counting blooms, and I spy a new one for the year. But it is totally the wrong color. It is mauve and white, I was expecting light yellow. What’s the deal?

Last year, I planted my two New Mexico named daylilies in the same pot. I labeled them (I thought). Last year, Ghost Ranch bloomed. So, one of the two plants is decidedly larger. So much so that the smaller one got its own pot to see if I can beef it up a tad. I thought Ghost Ranch was the one in the big pot. Apparently not, because the bloom looks like Chaco Canyon. It is odd, I still can’t figure it out. Chaco blooms early and Ghost Ranch is later. So, we will see. Maybe the fans are mixed now.

Anyway, remember when I said I would only post photos of new blooms? I have a few today. Please know that it was 4 PM when I got home so some of the blooms are past their prime. But, the garden explodes in color.

Here is Hopi Jewel:

Isaac:

Lady Fingers:

Prairie Wildfire:

Red Hot Returns:

Chama Valley

Tomorrow there are several possibilities for new faces. I think Wild Horses, Inwood (I missed the first bloom on Saturday), Mesa Verde, Stephanie Returns, Pink Enchilada, and Soco Gap are close. Any guesses????

Estimated Day of First Daylily: Tomorrow

June 7, 2017June 7, 2017Leave a comment

Stella in half bloomed, so I think it’s safe to say my first daylily of the year shows up tomorrow. I have to give up AM news for camera time in the garden. It’s better, the garden.

I killed my very first Stella a few years back. Then, I got into daylilies, and Stella seemed too common. But they bloom all season. So, last year, I hit the sales and got a few.

I have a growing number of scapes popping up. It’s like watching popcorn start to pop. Kokopelli, Soco Gap, Papa Long legs, Hopi Jewel, Happy Returns, Ruby Spider, Chama Valley, Strutters Ball, Wild Horses, Ghost Ranch, Funny Valentine, Inwood, Jungle Queen, Return A Smile. All have scapes. And, it’s just the beginning. I guessed Juneteenth (16th) for bloom 1. Off by 9 days. I’m good with it.

I have a lot of friends who think I’m a Lily expert. Daylilies are not really lilies. They are more closely related to Olathe Sweet Corn. And, I hope they do as well in my high desert garden.

After the Rain

June 30, 2016June 30, 2016Leave a comment

Rain is not a common thing on the Colorado Plateau. But, early this morning, the rain came. I could smell it from my bedroom window. It always looks like pearls on the petals to me.

It’s also interesting how much the backdrop for photos can change its emotional tone. When I got Ruby Spider a few years ago, it was to hide the timer for the drip system. And, I have always thought it looked majestic with the rock masonry from my house in the background. Last fall, I divided it into three Rubys because it had outgrown the planter that it shares with Return a Smile and Just Plum Happy. So, the two extra Rubys were relocated to my front walkway garden (which I converted to more of a daylily theme last summer).

Ruby Spider – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

Today, I had the first Ruby bloom in the new setting. I was taken back by the contrast with the clematis in the background. It looks a little like Christmas. I also like the one with the bluebells.

Ruby and Friends – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

No new faces today, but another mystery. When I divided up Ruby and her planter-mates last fall, the tags for Return a Smile and Just Plum Happy got (perhaps) mixed up. These two look just enough alike, that I decided I would have to wait for blooms this year to decide which was which. So, I think the photo taken today (below) is Return a Smile (although, I have changed my mind a few times).

Return a Smile – Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

Here are web photos of Just Plum Happy . . .

And, Return a Smile.

Any votes?

Other visitors today are Chief Four (Three) Fingers,

Chief Four (Three) Fingers – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

Hopi Jewel,

Hopi Jewel – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

and Wild Horses.

Wild Horses – Photos by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

I also went out and snapped a couple more of Chama Valley last night, in less intense sun. Much better.

Chama Valley – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

Enjoy your pictorial visit to my Colorado Western Slope garden. I think we will see peak bloom in a week or so. Hopefully, I won’t miss too much when I am at the National Nurse Practitioner Symposium next week. I wish my cats could take pictures.

There is a fire in the garden! No, scream!

June 29, 2016June 29, 2016Leave a comment

The Southwest (mostly) Ned Roberts spider garden has had a new kid in bloom almost every day. As I toured my gardens last evening, I noted that one labeled Desert Flame was obviously about to bloom. So, this morning, I headed out to see if it had given birth. And, there was a gorgeous orange bloom. Breath taking.

Primal Scream or Desert Flame? – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

So, I scurried in to attend a webinar after getting some photos. When the webinar was cancelled, I played with the photos a bit and posted the beauty to the American Hemerocallis Society page. And, immediately several posted that my bloom was no Desert Flame . . . it looks like Primal Scream. It’s one I bought locally to fill in some left over space in the new Southwestern garden. I have another new Primal Scream in the main garden. Maybe I should move them together once its blooms are done. [The ones below are web photos of Desert Flame and Primal Scream (in that order). What do you think?]

Interestingly enough, that same nursery had some unmarked daylilies. I asked what they were. They had no idea. None of the tags matched. They sold me one for half price . . . and I took their advise to pot it until it blooms. So, it sits (unbloomed) on my front porch. And, now I wonder if that will be the real Desert Flame. (PS Primal Scream is more popular/expensive, so the daylily folks think I got a good deal). I guess it is good just to savor the beauty.

Primal Scream or Desert Flame??? – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

Other blooms today:

Mesa Verde – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

Mesa Verde is back

Chief Four (Three) Fingers – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

As is Chief Four (Three) Fingers

Hope Jewel – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

And, Hopi Jewel

Add old favorites, Ruby Spider

Ruby Spider – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

Chama Valley

And, Early Bird Cardinal

Early Bird Cardinal – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

As we move into peak season, I may post photos of the new blooms as big photos. And, make a collage or two with the others. Maybe themes – like by color or garden. I don’t know. But it calls on my creativity strength. So, it will be fun. Too bad I can’t count this toward my clinical hours. It’s positive psychology related!

Kokopelli: Changing Winter to Spring

June 25, 20161 Comment

I have always found the legend of the kokopelli inspirational. Flute players who bring bags of seeds to change winter to spring. I think one of the most inspiring depictions of kokopelli are the benches in the kivas at Lowry Anasazi Ruins just south of where I live in Colorado. The ruins are always stunning because of these kokopelli benches.

Kokopelli – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

So, is it any wonder that on one of my first trips to the Lily Auction last fall that a bloomer named Kokopelli caught my eye. I blogged a couple weeks ago about my first auction experience . . . and my goal was to bring Kokopelli to my yard. Another bonus was that the grower was in Santa Barbara, my mom’s adulthood hometown. It seemed right. So right, as a matter of fact, that I began collecting the Ned Roberts southwestern named daylilies with that purchase. And, today, my first Kokopelli bloom arrives.

Another bloom that drew me in last fall, as I began to hone in on my southwest themed daylilies, was Wild Horses. This bloom just kept drawing me back, over and over. In the end, I purchased this one at an end of the year sale (from a San Francisco area grower – my dad’s childhood home region). There is something about the shapes and colors that makes me want to visit the wild mustangs.

Wild Horses – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

Today’s other blooms include Black Ice, Chama Valley (named for a place in New Mexico), and little Happy Returns. So from here out sit back and relax. The daylily popcorn is popping. There should be more new ones tomorrow. I am hoping for Mesa Verde!