Daylily Care: Tackling Weed Infestation and Pot Maintenance

June 26, 2024Leave a comment

What happened today was a couple first blooms for the season – Comanche Princess and a NOID that I call Dark Mystery. But that’s not all . . .

Today, I wrestled daylily pots! Nothing is as frustrating as grass and creeping bellflower in my pots! Desert daylilies need water – so I have drip systems for 90% of my daylily pots. It is like velcro for grass seeds, grassroots (despite having weed fabric under each pot), and the bellflower. Additionally, the bellflower has tuberous roots that look very much like daylily roots – but lighter in color. Left unattended, they can eventually crowd the daylily out. (Tips for keeping weeds out of pots.)

Unfortunately, chemical choices are limited because the roots of these plants intertwine with the daylily. I have had some luck with the coir rounds – but they wear out in a couple of years and are somewhat expensive in bulk.

I extract the inhabitants of the pot and slowly pull soil and roots away until I expose the daylily roots. Then, I hydro-wash the daylily to get any remaining alien roots off (hopefully) and I repot in new soil. It is a time-consuming process and the pot’s old dirt must be discarded. If you know of an easier way – please post a reply and share your expertise. It is my least favorite part about my daylilies.

Video showing daylily root system.

But, I digress. The day started with me wanting to get the high-bloom fertilizer that I talked about in the blog yesterday. I decided to daylily shop while at the nursery because I had some strugglers that needed to be replaced. I stopped at three nurseries and only one had any daylilies that I don’t already have. So, I got the fertilizer, 2 new daylilies, and some filler plants.

Video on how to fertilize daylilies.

When I got home, I freed the strugglers from their grass and moved them to a different spot to (hopefully) recuperate. I filled the pots with the new daylilies. Now, we wait. I’ll fertilize tomorrow before the storm on Thursday – and I will talk about that in my next post.

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Daylily Art Sale on Etsy: Until the Last Daylily Blooms

Don’t forget my daylily art sale. This original painting of Mama Cuna on a wood panel is perfect for the daylily lover’s decor! Click here or on the photo below for the Etsy shop listing.

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.)

Stay of Execution

August 28, 2019August 28, 2019Leave a comment

So, my day job is busy, although the buzz of the term is settling down some. My evening job this week is tweaking the new drip system. Last night, it was staples and stakes. Tonight, I tried sprayer heads on a couple of the larger pots that were hogging water. I think the little sprayers will work better without a much water waste.

I can’t believe I still have 7 in bloom today. But, the buds become rare and every day I say goodbye to at least one cultivator for another year.

Purple Corn Dancer is in 2 locations and so she has most of her buds left in location #2.

Purple Corn Dancer 8.27

Frans Hals has maybe 10 buds left – +/-

Frans Hals 8.27

Purple Grasshopper and Ruby Stella have a handful of buds left.

Purple Grasshopper 8.27

I think both Navajo Curls and Cripple Creek have a bud or two left.

Navajo Curls 8.27

Purple Thunderbird maybe has one bud left (max).

And, then it ends. Except that I found one of my Lowe’s Stella hybrid rebloomers with a new scape. It only has a few buds, but it is still 90 degrees. So, my hope is that the new drip system might give me a few more reblooms. My stay of execution.

Ruby Stella 8.27

My poinsettias seem to be perking up – but it is not a good year for them. I need to start forcing the big ones so they can all cycle through the bloom closet.

El Desperado 8.27

I’m camping this weekend and maybe looking for succulents down in SW Colorado. Oh, and I mail ordered my first air plants. They should be here tomorrow. I was reading that too many varieties of plant detracts from all of them. I honestly am OK with having less and getting more air plants and succulents. All my super market specials make the place look cluttered . . . we will see. The long and boring winter is less than 4 months away. My stay of execution is only temporary.

Worth the Wait!

August 11, 2019August 11, 2019Leave a comment

Today. Two dozen still bloom. One Premier – Carlotta. She has a story. She was a bonus plant early in my daylily root days. She was planted in our adobe dirt overwhelmed with the bluebells. When I transplanted to pots, she was seedling size. Today comes her first bloom. Much better than the pictures. She is lacy and flowing. I like her.

Chaco Canyon – who did not bloom in 2019 until yesterday – threw an extra petal today. I’ve not seen her do that before. Also, worth the wait.

And, here it is, bedtime, again.

Colorado Kid Daylilies

A Blog About My Western Colorado Daylily Adventure

Tag: daylilies in pots