Bromeliads: Lions, Tigers and Pups

March 13, 2021March 13, 20211 Comment

It’s crazy that 6 months have past since my last blog. I’ve been inside with my houseplants all winter and now the daylilies are starting to push up from the ground. Although, it is a snow weekend, so I decided to do a little blog on my bromeliads.

I got into bromeliads a couple years ago after reading that they were good companion plants for aloe, snake plant and yucca because of similar shape.

The habitats are different, but they tolerate being potted neighbors pretty well. Broms are tough for tropical plants.

One of my newest additions: Billgergia Darth Vader

I live in the high desert of Colorado. The yuccas and aloe are close kin to our Native plants. The broms do OK outside in the summer shade if you add some humidity boosters. Sunburn can be an issue in our climate.

Bromeliads remind me of my Grandma Hartt. She had several. She got them from a plant store in Denver. The first ones I got were a tribute to her collection.

The problem with daylilies is that you learn about mail order plants. That’s cool, but makes for endless choices in shapes, sizes and colors. I’ve gotten several beautiful ones locally, but the online ones bring so much more variety to my collection.

I also love the unique patterns. This is what really makes my collection unique from my other plants. Lions, tigers . . . Very unique markings. I grow them for foliage more than the incredible blooms. BTW, they don’t die after blooming. These bitches give birth to pups. Hoping to sell the offspring on my Esty site in a few years.

Guzmania – commonly found in grocery stores

My colors now are more muted than summer. My broms will be happy for more sun, although the bugs move in. Bromeliads are pretty resilient even though spiders seem to enjoy hiding in them.

I love plants with colorful foliage. I need to update you on my begonia winter project at some point. I’m a creative. I think I just like color. My winter houseplant color raises my wellbeing in the cold, dark months.

Please enjoy my small collection of (now) high desert bromeliads. I should plan a follow up when they are in full color in the fall after the summer sunshine.

My Dyckia variety came from a cactus store in Tucson.

Change of Shift

July 18, 2020Leave a comment

Change of shift is obviously when one group goes home and another one takes over. Well, since I left on vacation last Wednesday, I have had a lot of premiers and finales. I am not sure how many of each – but I do know that I have 44 in bloom today and 21 are new since I pulled out on my trip.

I had about 400 trip photos to go through, so I haven’t had time much time to count finales. I do know I missed at least one and others I only saw one bloom.

Was it worth it? Oh, yea – Colorado is beautiful and it is good to get out of town. Of course, the downside is that I now worry about COVID. Oh, I masked and carried hand sanitizer everywhere – around my neck. That said, there are a lot of people wondering around Colorado and our cases are on the rise.

I’ve now had about 104 bloom (+/-) so we are at a 61% bloom rate. I’d like to get to 80%, but we will see. I am just going to list the 21 new bloomers (Premiers) in alphabetic order:

Painted Petroglyph and her sad, bug eaten bloom 7.17.20

With 44 in bloom, I am still at peak. We will see what tomorrow brings . . .

Anasazi: My Daylilies in Ruins

May 16, 2020May 16, 2020Leave a comment

Anasazi is a Navajo word meaning “enemy ancestors” – but today we equate the word with the Ancient Pueblo people of the Southwest. This week, I talked about Chaco Canyon, which was the center of the population – like our New York. If there was a pandemic, it would likely center at Chaco. But, I have visited so many Ancient Pueblo ruins on my trips that it is mind boggling. Here are some favorites:

Maybe we should start at the center: Chaco Canyon, NM – The Center of the Universe!

Chaco Canyon – 2014

Chaco Canyon has outlying ruins that are miles and miles away – We have visited the two directly to the north – Salmon and Aztec Ruins National Monument near Farmington, NM.

Salmon Ruins – 2016

Aztec Ruins – 2016

One of the most interesting of the Chacoan Outliers is Chimney Rock near Durango, CO. My heavens, I had the worst vertigo when we camped there in 2009. This is the highest of all the Chacoan Ruins and they think it was used to send smoke signals to the other sites! It was beautiful and rainy on the day I visited.

Chimney Rock – 2009

Of course, not too far west of Chimney Rock is the famous Mesa Verde National Park. I started fostering my little disabled dog the same weekend we visited Mesa Verde. She was Dotsie in her past life, and I was trying to think of a name that rhymed, so she is Sazi Ana.

Mesa Verde – 2017

Not to talk politics (save me from that during this pandemic!), but White House Ruins at Canyon de Chelly, AZ is also part of the the system. I miss this canyon.

White House Ruins, Canyon de Chelly – 2018

Lowry Pueblo is a very interesting outlier not too far from my home. I love this one because you have to drive through rural farm land to reach the site. I love the figurines in the kiva – they represent summer and winter people.

Lowry Pueblo – 2019

Then, let’s zoom up to Utah to Edges of the Cedars State Park, where there is another Chacoan outlier. They had a crazy large geographic area for that time in civilization.

Edges of the Cedars State Park, UT – 2019

There were other Ancestral Puebloan ruins that are not direct Chaco outliers, like the ruins at Petrified Forest National Park. I love the Agate House – a ruin made of petrified wood!

Agate House, Petrified Forest National Park – 2018

And, Navajo National Monument has Betatakin and other Ancient Pueblo ruins.

Navajo National Monument – 2016

My old favorite, Hovenweep National Monument, has awesome Ancient Pueblo castle ruins.

Hovenweep National Monument – 2019

Some lesser known Ancient Pueblo Ruins we have visited include Five Kiva Pueblo near Blanding, UT.

Five Kiva Pueblo, UT – 2019

And, Yucca House National Monument near Cortez, CO.

Yucca House National Monument – 2019

I think the furthest one from the Four Corners is at Anasazi State Park in Utah – way up in the mountains near Boulder, UT.

Anasazi State Park, UT – 2019

That is a lot of ruins for one daylily. And, that Daylily is Anasazi. How on earth could I resist a name like this one? She was a bitty fan when I first got her – took her a few years to bloom. But, the first year she bloomed, she threw a double. It was memorizing.

Anasazi daylily double bloom – 2017

She usually blooms fairly early, but is a rebloomer.

Anasazi daylily – 2018

She looks a bit slow to take-off this spring. I probably should refresh her soil – the ants like her pot so I probably should take a look at the roots.

Anasazi daylily – 2019

I have other cultivators that would fit with this blog, but I will wait because I am trying to savor the vicarious daylily road trip for a couple more weeks.

Where Have All the Daylilies Gone???

January 5, 2020January 5, 20201 Comment

It is January. Cold, black and white, slippery January. Christmas is done and work starts Monday. And, for some reason, my mind craves the color of my daylily garden. So, I went through and made a video (pardon the length) with all nearly 200 of my cultivators from 2019. It was a crazy summer in the garden – even though I had to work most of it, I still saw a lot of blooms.

I am jazzed to see how my new camera does next summer. Come on June!!!

Poinsettias in the Bloom Closet!

November 16, 2019Leave a comment

Poinsettias are a sign that the holidays are just around the corner. I started collecting them a few years ago when I was a starving sixty-something doctoral student. I bought a pretty orange one and babied it because it was a luxury to buy a plant back then.

That plant bloomed all winter and flourished all summer. However, my first experiment in making a bloom closet that fall didn’t work out so well. The poinsettia bloomed, sort of, but was horribly leggy and didn’t survive winter #2.

I’ve gotten better with them. Trial and error. I have two that I’ve had going on four winters. I got a couple more the next year and, again, last year. Well, actually I got more than that, but lost a few along the way. I lost both of my orange ones from last winter to the cold spring.

I have 4 in bloom and one that’s still in the bloom closet. I have two still recovering from the cold spring that I’ll bloom in a couple of months.

How do I rebloom mine? Well, forget all the advice about putting it in a closet by night and a sunny window by day. I’m way too forgetful. But, I have a plant closet in my basement family room that has plant LED lights on a timer and a blackout curtain closed all the time, except when I water.

It’s year #3 for the closet and my poinsettias thrive down there. Once they bloom, they come upstairs for several weeks u til they start dropping leaves. Generally, they go back into the closet until May, when they sit in my front yard and get sprinkler system rain every day.

It’s hot and dry, but the poinsettias do fine. This is the first year that they have struggled a little. They are euphorbia, after all- just like my 6 ft pencil cactus.

I bring them in and put them in the bloom closet just before freeze. I have blooms by late October or early November. Have you ever rebloomed a poinsettia? Meanwhile the drought has returned and I need to winter water the daylilies during Thanksgiving break.

The Last of August

September 1, 2019September 1, 2019Leave a comment

I’m sitting in my tent, dosed in natural melatonin. There is cool air . . . It feels nice. Desert camping was hot all but about 2 hours a night. It will get down to 50 or so tonight. Good sleeping weather.

Purple Grasshopper 8.31

This shift also means only 3 blooms today. Honestly, it is a little bit nice to not have a million photos to take. But, I already miss the excitement of checking the garden for Premieres.

Frans Hals 8.31

Today brought travel to the 4-corners region. If you know Colorado, you know that means a drive over the San Juan Mountains. 10 k feet above sea level.

Ruby Stella 8.31

The largest city in the area is Durango and I wanted to see if their nursery had any nice succulents or air plants. The best route is over Red Mountain pass, which is high, curvy and no guard rail. I got vertigo and was sick for 2 days last time I drove it, so I take the longer route now. Adds an hour but oh well. I use to drive Red Mountain in chains in a blizzard at night. Those days are gone.

Animas River 8.31

So, I ended up with 2 bromeliads – one in bloom and one with 2 pups. I also got a small red desert rose (succulent) and another cool succulent. I was thinking of what I read about not having too much variety. The bromeliads are the same family as air plants so they bring familiar features.

My new baby red Desert Rose 8.31

I want air plants and succulents/cactus to be my core plants. The other major groups I’ll keep are orchids, begonias, poinsettias, amaryllis, calathea, African violets. I have a few others, but I’m giving a lot of miscellaneous plants away. Since you can decorate most plants with air plants, that should help blend things in together.

My white Desert Rose in bloom – taken a few days ago.

I have my new plantlets in the hatch covered by a blanket. The bromeliads are far from their natural habitat. The succulents won’t care. No clue what I’m doing tomorrow. It’s a nice problem to have.

Cowboys and Indians

August 13, 2019August 13, 2019Leave a comment

I’m not sure if I have ever mentioned that my grandfather knew Butch Cassidy. My grandfather was a cowboy – well, a sheepman. He hired Butch’s men when they weren’t out being desperados in the wild west of Wyoming and Colorado.

Fast forward to my yard today – there was my Premier El Desperado bloom. My big old plant died from the hard spring so I bought a new one. It isn’t getting quite enough light in its new location so the blooms are a little small. I will move her this fall.

Oh, and one of my favorite late-season Ned Roberts spiders was a premier – Navajo Curls. I have so much heart for the Native Americans that my garden is full of blooms to honor their culture. The Navajo are my neighbors here and I learn so much from my visits to their lands. It was nice to have them in my yard.

I only got a few hours of sleep last night . . . and what happens? Well, I go out in my outside back porch after a long day of work to find a bottle to use with my auto-watering spike and what do I see???? My orchid cactus blooming. Like, people host all-night watch parties for this. I have been out a few times for pictures. I don’t know how long I will stay up. Why can’t this be Friday or Saturday night? These plants are spring bloomers, after all.

Still 28 in bloom today. That’s crazy. Almost out of premiers for 2019, though. Not out of buds.

My Colorado Kids

August 8, 2019August 8, 2019Leave a comment

Faculty comes back to work tomorrow (except me – because the boss gets to work all summer 😉 ) Still, I had 40 cultivators in bloom today. Last year at this time, I was having surgery in a week, in-process with interviewing for this job . . . and I had only a handful of daylilies. There were none left to bloom. And, mid-August, the blog dropped into nothingness until poinsettia time. It is Jugust in my yard – my poinsettias look like it’s June and my daylilies think it is July . . . and faculty come back to work tomorrow.

Anyway – I still have 5ish that have scapes and have not bloomed yet and a lot with buds left – this blog season is not close to being over yet. So, what to talk about today? Well, I was going to talk about my daylilies with Colorado names. A couple are in bloom today – but let’s look at the summer.

Cripple Creek is a golden Ned Roberts spider that I assume is named for the gold rush town of Cripple Creek in Colorado. Ned, the hybridizer, lived fairly near Cripple Creek, CO.

Cripple Creek – 2019

I believe Echo Canyon is named for a canyon near the Royal Gorge. Ned Roberts lived closeby in Colorado Springs.

Echo Canyon – 2019

Glen Eyrie IS a place in Colorado Springs – no doubt about it! It is an old castle and new conference center. Another Ned Roberts spider.

Glen Eyrie 2019

Hesperus is the name of a sacred (to the Navajo) mountain in the San Juan Mountain Range near my home. I have no idea if the cultivator was named after the mountain, but I like the theory enough that I bought the daylily.

Hesperus – 2019

Mount Echo Sunrise – I am guessing this is named after Echo Mountain that is the tallest mountain visible from Denver. It is a guess because it is another Ned Roberts daylily.

Mount Echo Sunrise – 2019

Rocky Mountain Pals was named for the folks at the University Cancer Center in Denver – there Ned Roberts went for treatment later in his life. At least that is the story I was told.

Rocky Mountain Pals – 2019

The Colorado Kid is named after the movie – but when I saw the name early in my place name and blue daylily addiction, she had to be mine. She is the mascot of this blog!

The Colorado Kid – 2019

A Watched Pot

August 5, 20191 Comment

So, this was my camping weekend. And, I’ve had 5 Premiere blooms since my last post. I want to say something before I share them. I had over 30 still in bloom. I have 5 or 6 with scapes that have not bloomed yet. I could possibly get late scapes. I’m at 85% bloom rate – anticipate low 90’s. This week, my regular hours start. It’s going to get crazy. I hope to photograph those that are open before I leave but many don’t open until 9 or 10 AM. They are pretty cooked by 2 PM, so we will see how this goes. Crazy late cycle.

Two brand new blooms on Friday. Cripple Creek – a golden flower that I assume Ned Roberts named after the Colorado gold rush town. Coberg Fright Wig – from back when I bought crazy names. Tried to die, but I finally got it thriving 4 years later.

Cripple Creek 8/2

Coberg Fright Wig 8/2

And, today some new blooms for 2019 on old favorites. Western Sandstone and Pizza Crust. They look and act enough alike that I looked up parentage a couple years ago and they are kin.

Pizza Crust 8/4

Western Sandstone 8/4

Orange Vols is probably my favorite orange.

Orange Vols 8/4

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.):