I woke up to rolling thunder and light rain. It’s Saturday so I slept late. I’m sure the dark, cool weather helped.
As soon as I regained enough consciousness, I started wondering if my big Dream Keeper bud was open.
So, I grabbed my camera and headed outside. I kept the camera tucked in my shirt as I photographed a couple of my early bloomer favorites.
Today, we started our weeklong camping road trip through southern Utah. So, I’ll miss 5 days of blooms. But, I think there will be plenty left when I return next week.
Premieres:
Prairie Blue Eyes 7/5
Cheyenne Eyes 7/5
Papa Long Legs 7/5
Treasure of the Southwest 7/5
Reruns:
Indian Love Call 7/5
Petite Petticoats 7/5
Yellow Punch 7/5
Saratoga Springtime 7/5
Yellow Stella 7/5
Echo Canyon 7/5
Purple Many Faces 7/5
Mesa Verde 7/5
The Colorado Kid 7/5
Finales: While Dream Keeper has a few buds left (my first bloom this season), she will likely be done before I get home.
Dream Keeper 7/5
Wow, time flies when you’re having July. Almost road trip time. I won’t miss peak, I don’t think. But, it could be starting by the time I get back. I’ll be cutting down used scapes soon enough.
So, a couple quick stories. All American Chief gave me a first bloom ever after three years. He was a gift plant. I love that the sellers pick up my Southwest theme and send approximately named daylilies. Hopi Jewel has bloomed every year, but has a similar story.
Here are today’s Premieres:
All American Chief 7/3
Hopi Jewel 7/3
Return a Smile 7/3
Petite Petticoats 7/3
And, that makes for 13 Reruns:
The Colorado Kid 7/3
Echo Canyon 7/3
Saratoga Springtime 7/3
Canyon Colors 7/3
Mesa Verde 7/3
Navajo Blanket 7/3
Comanche Princess 7/3
Funny Valentine 7/3
Dream Keeper 7/3
Indian Love Call 7/3
Yellow Stella 7/3
Yellow Punch 7/3
Golden Stella 7/3
For the first time in years, Ruby Spider isn’t going to bloom on the 4th. I don’t I can do a shot with red, white and blue flowers together. Oh well, happy 4th!
Ah, the days of lots of Premieres and no Finales in sight. Today saw 13 blooms. A couple works about Navajo Blanket. I got her early in my daylily crazy. Probably 4-5 years ago. Initially, in the dobie soil until I dug a bunch of half dead daylilies up and put them in pots two years ago. This year, I tried a bigger pot. That, plus the rain, and it bloomed this year.
Another little miracle was Ojo de Dios. She died and I replaced her once I had buried pots in. She is big and healthy now.
So, here we go with Premiers;
Navajo Blanket 7/2
Ojo de Dios 7/2
Mesa Verde 7/2
Echo Canyon 7/2
And, Reruns:
Indian Love Call 7/2
Funny Valentine 7/2
Golden Stella de Oro 7/2
Land of Enchantment 7/2
Comanche Princess 7/2
Dream Keeper 7/2
Canyon Colors 7/2
Yellow Punch 7/2
Saratoga Springtime 7/2
And, so it has begun. Slowly but surely. Despite the very weird weather of 2019 that brought hail, rain, and thunder today. Ten bloomers.
Let’s start with Premiers;
Land of Enchantment 7/1 – I’ve had this cultivator 5 years and this is her first bloom.
Purple Many Faces 7/1
Chief Four Fingers 7/1 – This one bloomed in ’14 and almost died but finally back in good health.
Now, onto Reruns:
Indian Love Call 7/1
Saratoga Springtime 7/1
Funny Valentine 7/1
Golden Stella 7/1
Dream Keeper 7/1
Comanche Princess 7/1
Canyon Colors 7/1
Last year, I think I just listed the Reruns of I had more than 12. We will see. I’m using my phone/Wordpress app more this year. My camera photos need to be retrieved for the last few days. July has arrived.
Well, time to stop thinking summer will never come. While I anticipate my daylilies are 2-4 weeks behind average, today there was a shift in numbers and colors.
Here are the today’s premieres:
The Colorado Kid 6/30
Comanche Princess 6/30
Canyon Colors 6/30 (first bloom 6/29)
Indian Love Call 6/30
Yellow Punch 6/30
Funny Valentine 6/30
And, here are the show stoppers who have been around for a week or three:
Saratoga Springtime 6/30
Dream Keeper 6/30
Golden Stella 6/30
Yellow Stella 6/30
I’m working on moving my history website moved to WordPress this weekend, so that’s all for the daylilies today. Oh, the cover photo is Ghost Ranch, whose one and only bud opened yesterday.
So strange. It’s July in a week and I’ve only had 3 cultivars bloom. Maybe the 35 degree low and hail this weekend helped. Lol. All I can say is that my 3 in bloom today all have me 4 blooms. I don’t see any others that ready to bloom . . . Within a week, but not tomorrow.
Saratoga Springtime 6/24
Stella 6/24
I’m really not feeling the joy of daylily season, yet. The wet, cold spring has things running 2-4 weeks late. Next week and the following are usually peak weeks. I have lots of scapes, but nothing but Stella, Saratoga Springtime, and Dream Keeper are blooming. And, I’d guess next week at the earliest before that changes. Last year, I had a dozen or so in bloom by now. I thought it was my gardening skills. Maybe some, but mostly the yin and yang of exceptional drought to a cold, wet season.
Dream Keeper 6/20
Saratoga Springtime 6/20
This year, I’ll do Premier photos for new blooms and, like last year, Encore photos for last blooms of each cultivator. For now, though, we wait.
The contrast seems odd. Last year we had the exceptional drought. Blooms were early because of the warm, dry winter. I winter watered my daylilies once a month. Some buds dried up before they opened.
Stella de Oro, June 6, 2019
This year, winter was long, cold and wet. It warmed up in March, but got cold, again. I lost El Desperado – my big, thriving El Desperado. Nurse’s Stethoscope is struggling. I lost Ghost Ranch. Other daylilies have bigger that average foliage. It’s weird that I lost more with rain than without. We are 200% or something of the average snowpack.
Saratoga Springtime, June 9, 2019
So, blooms are late and scapes are slow to appear. I don’t feel as geared up for my daily daylily blog as usual. Maybe it’s because I have a new job that is a better match, but I’m leading a major transition. So, that and sick dogs, have been my focus.
Dream Keeper, June 11, 2019
But, nature doesn’t care. Summer temps are starting the last couple of weeks, and I’ve had 3 daylily blooms. Stella de Oro was the first. She started scapes at the usual time and then winter returned. She slowly but surely persisted. Other bloomers are Saratoga Springtime and Dream Keeper.
Oh, and my amaryllis finally bloomed after 5 years!
I have more scapes this week, but nothing else on the verge of blooming. So, my blog will have a slow start, just like the spring did.
The days grow August-quiet. It seems a dream that I had nearly 60 blooms per day just a month ago. So, today, we will do finales. And, then, a roll-call of my Ned Roberts spiders.
Finales:
Chorus Line 8.5
Rosie’s Red 8.6
So, maybe if I do the Ned Roberts spider roll-call it will entice one more into bloom this year. My Ghost Ranch is a fall bloom, but I am having a rough time getting her to thrive here. Maybe some fish fertilizer? Our temps are still above average with little rain.
Ned Roberts Spiders for 2018 Season:
Adios Albuquerque
Apache Bandana
Aztec Firebird
Black Arrowhead
Black Ice
Chaco Canyon
Cheyenne Eyes
Chokecherry Mountain
Comanche Princess
Desert Icicle
Dream Catcher
Dream Keeper
Fox Ears
Happy Hopi
Iktomi
Kachina Firecracker
Kokopelli
Laughing Feather
Mama Cuna
Moon Over Chimayo
Navajo Curls
Navajo Rodeo
Papa Longlegs
Pink Rain Dance
Pueblo Dancer is her label, but she doesn’t look like that one. So???
Purple Corn Dancer
Purple Grasshopper
Purple Many Faces
Purple Moonrise
Purple Thunderbird
Raspberry Propeller
Raven Woodsong
Rocky Mountain Pals
Santa Fe Christmas
Shape Shifter
Skinwalker
Taco Twister
Talon
Twirling Pinata
Wild Rose Fandango
Zuni Eye
Zuni Thunderbird
Out of interest, here are my Ned Roberts spiders that bloomed last year but did not bloom this year:
Coral Taco 2017
Glen Eyrie
Pink Enchilada 2017
And, we had a few in 2016 that have not bloomed again:
Chief Four Fingers 2016
Ghost Ranch
Winds of Love 2016
I have around 64 of Ned’s spiders in my garden. I had 42 bloom this year or about 65%. Last year, I had 13 (about 20%) bloom. Marked improvement. All total, to date, I have had 48 (or 75%) bloom. That is a long way from 100%. But, marked improvement. I think some of the ones that bloomed in 2016 were put in that year (still flourishing from the nursery), struggled last year in the clay soil, and are recovering (growing new roots) this year in their pots. I am sure that the drought had an impact, as well.
So, for fun, here are the ones I have that have never bloomed (photos from the web):
Apache Beacon
Coyote Laughs
Cricket Call
Cripple Creek
Dancing Maiden
Echo Canyon
Feather Woman
Golden Eclipse
Kachina Dancer
Kiva Dancer
Land of Enchantment
Maya Cha Cha
Medicine Feather
Mount Echo Sunrise
Navajo Grey Hills
Ojo de Dios
Orchid Moonrise
The Real Pueblo Dancer
Spirit of the Morning
Star over Milagro
Truchas Sunrise
Wildwood Flower
We made improvements, but we have aways to go. That’s life
Colorado Kid Daylilies 