Daylily Software: Streamlining Cultivator Management and Tracking Bloom Cycles

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.

Mystery Solved

When I put in my Southwest daylily garden, I filled it with a lot of Ned Roberts spiders and other names that sounded like the Southwest in some way. I put most of the garden in about 4 years ago. I ordered from several different daylily hybridizers/gardens across the country. I planted them and labelled them.

Laughing Feather 7.1.20

Since then, I have dug most of them back up and put them in buried pots. I got new labels a couple of times – now they are metal. I made a map about 3 years ago – and it is pretty reliable except there are doubles of a couple and that doesn’t make sense because of how I organized them when I planted them.

Kiva Dancer 7.1.20

That brings me to today’s premier blooms. The mystery daylily that is a double of Kachina Dancer (bloomed yesterday) but in a different row and is clearly a different bloom – but same name on the label. So, what is it? Well, I also ordered Kiva Dancer about that time and looking at pictures from the web, I think that I just mislabeled the daylily. Kachina instead of Kiva. Anyway – she bloomed last year and I had the wrong name because Kachina Dancer had never bloomed before yesterday. That’s a long story, but Kiva Dancer (I think) had her first 2020 bloom this year.

Holy Sombrero 7.1.20

We started with yellow trumpets and today brought some showier yellow daylilies. Holy Sombrero is a very showy, big, ruffly bloom.

Cheddar Cheese 7.1.20

And, one of my older daylilies that is loving the place in the garden that I moved it a couple summers ago premiered today – Cheddar Cheese. I have a picture I painted of her in my room – one of my first paintings.

Heron”s Cove 7.1.20

Last, but never least, was a premier on Heron’s Cove. It was cold last night, so many of my blooms didn’t open right today. Hers is a little frumpy.

Here is a picture of Oh Erica from the American Daylily Society page

I have a request of my readers. I am looking for a daylily named Erica for my family section of the garden. I have both grandkids, my oldest daughter, my mom, my grandma . . . but I need to find one named Erica, like my youngest daughter. I like one called Oh, Erica by a hybridizer in Indiana named Bart Beck – but I can’t find contact. I also like “Erica’s Awake”. Anyway – if my readers know of any Erica named daylilies or how to contact Bart Beck – please leave a comment.

It’s tomorrow. I am going to bed.