Hi all – When it is Saturday and it hasn’t been the fun day that I planned. COVID had driven the world mad – and they seem to all be mad at me. So, how about a little Ned Robert’s daylily therapy? I fell in love with Ned’s southwestern named daylilies after finding Kokopelli on Lily Auction 5 years ago. I have a collection of 70 ish now. I am including a few from 2019 if they didn’t bloom this year. Comment with your favorite! Direct from Montrose, Colorado . . .
Last year, I posted all my blooms each week on Sunday since it is too much to do daily. This year, I am going to try to do a recap at the end of the month. So, for June 2020, we had the following 50:
Maybe it is because last year we had the rain and we were officially not in a drought that makes this year seem mediocre. I don’t mean bad . . . I just mean a pretty good drought year. But, an exceptional drought year just the same.
There are a few cultivators that didn’t bloom last year that usually are reliable – I think it was the freezing rain that stopped them. This year, Navajo Rodeo and Papa Longlegs sit looking like tall grass. Maybe I need to get the new pots going this fall – maybe the tree roots are taking over, again. I mean – the tree is thirsty, too.
I had some premiers today – perhaps I should start with Santa Claus – because Santa’s Pants showed up today.
Wineberry Candy also had a premier bloom. She doesn’t fit my name theme at all, but I wanted a new daylily the day I saw her.
Speaking of name themes – another from my family garden had a premier today. Catherine Irene – named for my mom. She is a pretty little mini.
And, Early Bird Cardinal showed up for the first time. When I put the sprinkler (drip) system in a week ago, I wondered if I was on-time because her buds were so dry. But, they seem much happier with a little more water. Sadly, my porch drip system battery died and I didn’t notice – I lost some buds off of primal scream. Darn drought. We need monsoons.
And, one finale while I was gone yesterday – Dream Keeper. My spring bloomers are hibernating. Seems too soon.
It was a fun weekend camping and I need to hit the hay. Tomorrow, another day of novel pretty blooms to explore. Good night!
I will say one thing positive about the pandemic is that I have spent a lot more time in my yard and patio doing projects that I have wanted to do for some time.
So, today I extended my side yard drip system to the upper part of my front flower bed. I am guessing there are 50 plants in that area – so it took a chunk of time. I was nervous to hook it up, but it works fine. My sprinkler system is great for the lawn, but not for the flower pots. It is just not enough. So . . . I will come back to drip systems in a minute.
First, I had several premiers. Mauna Loa is a pretty Ned Roberts daylily that I added last year. It is one of his older ones, but the color is still vibrant.
One of my minis, Petite Petticoats, gave me a premier bloom today, too. I seriously almost missed her in a big bucket of minis.
Purple Many Faces showed her face for the first time in 2020 today. Another colorful Roberts cultivator.
Oh, and sweet Return a Smile. She was one of my very first daylilies and always makes me smile.
So, that is it for premiers today. Likely, this week, I will shift to premiers only. I have a couple honorable mentions today. I had 4 premiers this week that didn’t open right the first time. Now, they are back with their normal beauty – Kokopelli, Land of Enchantment, Jungle Queen, and Mildred Mitchell.
OK, back to the drip system. Last year, I put one in on the front part of the bed I did today. Again, it had a lot of plants and I was new at doing drip systems other than it a short line. So, I did it the same, and needless to say, the drippers at the end did not have enough pressure.
I decided to research it and you need to put the line in a continuous circle – so both the start and end of the tube connect to the tap. Earlier this spring, I went back and fixed the front so it worked correctly. And, I am seeing a difference in the plant health – we will see on bloom rate. So far, Stella is much happier. And, my poinsettias are in heaven!
I don’t have either of the newer drippers on a timer – other than my brain. It is still a lot easier to crank the hose and do something else for 30-60 minutes that haul water to all those pots.
I am wondering if peak will happen before my trip in 2.5 weeks. I know it will be busy with blooms. I just need to get away and have an adventure.
Today, I woke-up late because I worked until midnight on a supply list for one of our new programs. It is busy on top of COVID-19 – the world of nursing academics is and will stay upside-down.
I was foggy . . . but when consciousness returned, I realized it was Juneteenth. I knew nothing about Juneteenth until I lived in Galveston and read a book by the same name. It is a day worth remembering.
We live in a world that seems shaken by so much right now. But, I am free to go out in my yard and take photos of the 13 bloomers of the day. All are different colors, and I treat each the same. I am free to write the blog. I can put just about anything I want in this blog – that is freedom. I can be a crazy daylily lady – that is freedom.
The other cool thing about today is that my Nurse’s Stethoscope daylily bloomed her premier bloom. She is the one I suggested the name for through the Daylily Society. She is named for the Show Me Your Stethoscope episode of the View. Maybe COVID-19 has helped the world understand all of the capabilities of my profession.
I had a few other premiers – I do believe the peak is beginning to build. Canyon Colors had a premier bloom today. There is so much grass in her put that she didn’t put out many scapes. I was going to replant her in March, but couldn’t get out to buy the soil before she got too big.
Indian Love Call had a nice first bloom. She is loaded with buds.
Land of Enchantment had a premier bloom that looks almost as beat-up as Kokopelli did yesterday. I think it is bud damage from the big windstorm a couple weeks ago.
It is Friday, summer solstice is tomorrow. It just feels like a significant day.
My flowers today are dedicated to those who don’t know the same freedoms that I have known. And, they are dedicated to the frontline workers during COVID-19 – my Nurse’s Stethoscope seems to say “thanks” to my colleagues.
It’s my home weekend tomorrow. A few things planned around the yard. Solstice . . . Summer Solstice. And, I get a little sad knowing that the days will start shrinking, again.
Enjoy the show below . . . almost time to limit to just premier blooms in the daily blog.
I remember a presidential debate several years ago where one of the candidates said he had binders of women. Instantly, it was the twitter trend. Well, I am not sure my folders of flowers will rate that highly, but there are similarities.
This time of year, I organize my flower photos in folders labeled by cultivator name, date, and then which photo # it is that day for that flower. So, I might have stella6.17.1 for my first Stella de Oro shot today.
I use Microsoft One Drive as my back-up for my camera photos. It always worked great until I switched computers . . . or maybe it’s the new camera . . . or some update. I have checked every setting and I can’t figure it out.
It just isn’t backing up the photos I put on my computer. Now, I can upload the folder to One Drive – but I have to delete the one off my computer. And, then the one from One Drive shows up. It honestly took me hours to figure out a work-around. I think once a week is plenty for this little procedure.
So far, I have eleven folders of flowers for 2020. Last year, I had 161 total. I have more work ahead of me than what lays behind. And, I need to move my flower software to the new computer, too.
So, I had more premiers to add to my list of folders. Today, a couple of Southwestern named cultivators. Mesa Verde is one of my favorites – especially for a ruffly bloom.
And distinctive Laughing Feather has bloomed – one of my Robert’s spiders. It usually isn’t a particularly early bloomer . . . beat Kokopelli this year, though.
Oh, and my yellow (vs golden) version of Stella put our a premier bloom today, too.
My other cultivators are pictured above between my writing. Tomorrow, I think I will be adding more folders. Maybe Kokopelli. I didn’t have time to make bud rounds today so I am not really sure. I guess I’ll find out tomorrow.
Wow – no blog since Thursday. Why? First – it is pretty much the same 4 bloomers off and on every day. Second – it is camping season and still busy at work. I blog about my travel on my on another blog – so I just didn’t have time for both last night.
Where are my other blooms? Well, last year, I was behind this year with bloom rate. But it was rainy and my overall bloom rate was the highest ever. But, the year before that was an exceptional drought and I already had several more cultivators in bloom, but a lower overall bloom rate for the season.
My theory is easy – the rain is the stimulant to form scapes and decide to bloom for another year. It happens in March and April, the rain. I can water, but in a desert, I can’t keep up with mom nature. When it finally warms up, there are lots of scapes ready to ascend into full blooms.
Drought years tend to warm-up quickly. So, those daylilies that did form scapes because they did OK on less rain emerge earlier due to the daily temps. But, overall, there are fewer scapes that formed because of less moisture in March and April.
This year, we are somewhere in between. I have 85 in scape now – about half. I always start to worry if I don’t see scapes by late June – perhaps this cultivator needs a year off.
I have several that look ready to pop. Laughing Feather, Ojo de Dios, Mesa Verde, Funny Valentine to name a few. I guess I need to wait until tomorrow to see what opens up. For tonight, you get four nights of blog for the price of one read. Soon, I won’t be able to do that and stay caught-up.
Crowning is a nurse-midwifery term for when a baby’s head begins to come into the world. For many years, it was my job to deliver babies. We knew it wouldn’t be long once the head was crowning.
I start my day by touring my daylilies to see how many cultivators have scapes. I love the anticipation enough that I peak down between the leaves to see is a scape is forming that hasn’t emerged yet. I feel like a midwife checking under the sheets to see if the baby’s head is crowning.
So, today I had the same four bloomers as I had the last few days. Nothing else looks super ready to open, but I have 70 that are crowning 😉 I guess I’ll see what tomorrow brings.
PS since it was so cold last night and yesterday, my blooms lasted into a second day only slightly frazzled.
It is an expression about horses – rode hard and put away wet means running a horse so hard that it sweats. Well, looking at my daylilies today, the expression came to mind. The Derecho followed by 2 more days of intense wind – then down to near freezing last night – that is a lot to ask of a daylily. And, the foliage is bent and after two days of dust bowl wind, the last rain was “dirty” so to speak. So, my leaves have a little debris on them.
I still had 4 blooms today. I think Dream Keeper looks so sad and faded today after the storm.
And, Saratoga Springtime broke a petal.
Stella, and her cousin, Yellow Punch (a primier bloom today) look pretty normal. Except the buds (other than Saratoga Springtime) did not fully open until this afternoon about 2 PM. It is a clear sign that blooms are partially heat driven.
What’s close – IDK, maybe Funny Valentine. I do have close to 70 scapes now. The wind is gone, like a case of Corona Virus is gone. And, it gets up to 75 tomorrow.
Oh, and my poinsettias are OK. Poinsettias will die if you expose them to temps under 50 in the winter, but I have found that during growing season, they are much more resilient.
Well, this wind storm (called a derecho) is causing some very cold, wet, windy weather. Derechos usually occur in the Eastern US and Saturday brought Colorado’s first-recorded, significant derecho. It’s still stirring things up. It’s supposed to get down to 38 tonight. I hope my poinsettias are ok.
Wind leaves the plants looking they have been through a hurricane. My poor bleeding heart plant is shredded.
I still had two resilient blooms and 60 scapes. It’ll be cold for a couple days. I may not see much action until then.
Colorado Kid Daylilies 