I am posting a quick update. Several mid-late bloomers in the past week. I haven’t posted here because of brain fog (no AC), little dogs, other blogs (I have 4 active) and old frogs. I am just going to do a quick post to catch-up.
My 3 Special Needs/Senior Rescues Keep Me Busy!
On 7.24, Ghost Ranch bloomed with the first decent sized blooms ever in my yard. I replaced the first plant a couple years ago because it died. I also had a NOID Red Spider that may be another Skinwalker or Winds of Love, but doesn’t perfectly match either. It was suppose to be Coyote Laughs, but it clearly isn’t. I also had reliable El Desperado.
It’s an interesting year – I am still in the low 20s every day. My highest day was in the 30s or low 40s – nothing like 60-70. It has been a slow, steady season.
I am going to go to weekly with this blog now that the season is slowing. I will continue to blog until the last daylily blooms, but frequency will decrease as the yard slows. I need to get back to life!
And, a quick reminder about my Until the Last Daylily Blooms Etsy sale! I use my earnings to help support my rescue dogs, so I appreciate readers who take the time to visit my shop. Thank you!
How many of those of us who take photographs have ever been disgusted to take a closer look at our beautiful flower photo and see those ugly pincers (click link to find out more about earwig ID) were smiling at the camera when we clicked the otherwise gorgeous shot? Ugh!
Parts of earwig visible in the throat of the flower.
I inspect the flower for earwigs before I take the photo. If I see the nasty little pincers, I grab a nearby twig. I want a fine enough twig not to damage the flower – but it also needs to be strong enough to grab the insect and allow me to drag it out of the flower. Below is a short video with my process. Sorry about the shakiness, I had to try to hold the camera while manually extracting the insect. Normally, I hold the flower steady with the other hand to minimize or prevent flower damage.
Manual extraction of earwig from throat of daylily.
Dog photo bombs are much cuter than earwig photobombs.
More Colorful Spiders: Reaching for My Stretch Goal . . . of 60% Bloom Rate
I had two first of the season blooms today – both Ned Roberts’ spiders. That makes 25 total for the year so far . . . out of 70+. 😦 That’s about 35%. As with the rest of the yard, I hope for 60%. That’s about 18 more cultivators. It’s my stretch goal!
Winds of Love
Winds of Love is such a beautiful flower – she always looks like she is blowing in a gentle breeze. Golden Eclipse has unique coloring. I was cautioned by the grower that it looked a little brown to some buyers – but I adore the color.
Golden Eclipse
When Will My Last Daylily Bloom?
Maybe I should run a contest! Last year, it was the day before Halloween. I have actually have had blooms into November some years, but I moved the plant into the lean-to so the buds didn’t freeze. Typically, late September/early October – about freeze time in Colorado zone 6.
My last bloom last year was Open My Eyes on10.29 – It was hit with freezing rain after blooming.
My dog Maizzy’s memorial leaf during it’s creation.
Yesterday, I decided to include my Colorado wildflower cards. These are made with my own photography of Pearl Lake State Park – the Park is named after my grandma.
Today’s blog looked at non-techno, eco-friendly approaches to removing earwigs from your daylily photos. I shared photos of my latest beloved Ned Roberts spider daylilies. And, I shared updated information on my Until the Last Daylily Blooms art sale. I am seriously considering a contest for the person who guesses the last bloom date! What do you think?
Midseason Monday brings only 2 first blooms for 2024 to the yard. The first is an older daylily, Prairie Blue Eyes. Even though she is a classic, Prairie Blue Eyes has a nice blue hue around the eye zone.
Prairie Blue Eyes
The second is one I got as a bonus called Nona’s Garnet Spider. She is a 90s girl. Nona is a petite spider that adds a nice red accent in my front path garden.
Nona’s Garnet Spider
It was a nice break in the flurry of midseason today. I had other things to get done today. Finding balance during peak season is always a challenge, and I don’t think I am at peak. This year may be more like a prolonged plateau until Fall.
To my fellow bloggers out there, what are your thoughts on AI? I have been using the Word Press AI feature for headlines and my stats seem to be up, but it also feels a little distant or impersonal. That said, it does save a little time. The excerpt is another time-saver, but again feels impersonal. I feel like the 3rd person.
I usually use Grammarly, but it hasn’t been running for a few days for some reason. I like the feedback it gives, generally speaking. I used it for my doctorate, also, and found it helpful – although it argues with the AI I use for my Etsy listings. I SMH with the bots arguing about grammar but using AI does seem to be increasing my Etsy traffic.
Bloggers – if you are using AI, do you think it is helping with traffic? If yes – why and how much???
I will be adding some new pieces before the summer is over. I plan to do some daylily paintings over a marbled acrylic pour background. I will be talking more about my process in the next few weeks!
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.
The daylily bloom season continues to dribble along. I have nearly 80 scapes (or cultivators with scapes). Still, many early bloomers have not put out scapes. I am unsure what to do – I might try some high-bloom fertilizer before the monsoons hit full force. But just a little bit of fertilizer because the timing isn’t optimal. I rarely intervene like this, but after two years of high bloom rate, I feel the soil may need a little nutrition. I also don’t like to use much fertilizer when the temps are getting so high, but the rains would help.
Orchid Moonrise
I had one new cultivator today: Orchid Moonrise. I was surprised, as this one is usually not a super early bird. I love the purple color of this Ned Roberts spider. My fourth Ned spider this season, the others were Burgundy Crab, Kokopelli, and Fried Green Tomatoes.
Fried Green Tomatoes in bloom today.
I got a new computer last spring (2023) and I discovered tonight that I never moved my daylily software from my old computer. Yes – I have a software program just for my daylilies. Last year, I didn’t use it! The shift from a regular career to a “retirement” small business takes a lot of energy. I got it moved over tonight and trying to update all my cultivators. I have lost some the last two summers – and I need to take those out. I added a couple new ones last year that need to be added.
I have a system where I add a photo from each year labeled with the year. That helps me keep track of what is blooming and what is struggling. The software also lets you put a location – plus I have a daylily map of my main gardens. It also needs to be updated. This is super handy if you lose the plant pot label.
My daylily map.
If you grow daylilies and are interested in affordable software – check out this website. They also have a Facebook page and Kent, the software developer, is very responsive to customer service requests. It is seriously awesome. There are also videos on the website if you are interested in more info.
The other good thing about the software is that I can tell when a cultivator normally blooms in my yard each year. Last year, the peak was mid-July to early August. There is hope that things may pick up this year.
Don’t forget that I have my “Until the Last Daylily Blooms” sale on daylily art in my Etsy shop all summer. Check out these prints of my handpainted pictures of my daylily collection! Great wall decor for the daylily lover! Visit this link or click the photo to visit the listing.
Colorado Kid Daylilies 