Early blooming daylilies – Colorado Kid Daylilies

A spellbinding magic show that brings you delight and pleasure . . . that is what it means to be enchanted. New Mexico is the Land of Enchantment. I am perhaps less enchanted with New Mexico than I am Arizona because Western Colorado has areas that resemble New Mexico.

Yucca in a drift at White Sands National Monument

That said, I am enchanted by my roadtrips through New Mexico. The badlands are beautiful, and the cultural flavor is richer than Colorado – if you are into the Southwest.

The stark horizon at White Sands National Monument, NM

Last year, we saw different side of New Mexico at White Sands National Monument. It is a landscape so boring that it is enchanting. Non-colored sand with a few resilient plants poking their heads through.

This view reminds me of the ski slopes in Colorado – White Sands National Monument

The hikes are like marching through a very hilly sand box. My cats would likely like it better than my dogs, who considered it way too hot at 85 degrees. I had never seen dunes quite like these ones . . . enchanting.

Kachina, Sazi, and Maizzy feeling the heat at White Sands National Monument

So, my vicarious roadtrip daylily of the day is Land of Enchantment – another Ned Roberts spider. Last year was her first year to bloom in my yard and by golly, she does look a bit like the New Mexico State flag.

She was one of my early bloomers last year. She doesn’t have scapes yet – but I do have 15 cultivators with their weird claw hands being raised to the heavens in prep for a bloom.

I am nervous because drought years tend to bring early blooming but poor bloom rates. I try to keep up with watering, but I am not the same as a good monsoon. And, the monsoons are too late – it is really the March-May water that matters.

I did put in a new drip system out in the walkway garden and the plants are bigger. So, I guess we will wait to see how enchanting this summer is in the garden. 2020 has brought my 65th birthday, a dead furnace, a broken sewer mainline and COVID-19. I could use a little enchantment.

Daylilies remind me of popcorn. When I was a kid, we had a metal tray with a screen over it and a handle that was our popcorn popper. No nuking a sack for a few minutes. No, you had a jar of corn and you poured it in with oil. It was usually over the gas flame on the stove or fireplace. You had to shake the popper the whole time or the popcorn would stick. Good exercise.

Pretty soon, though, if you were persistent enough, you would hear a pop. A few seconds later, another. Pretty soon, the kernels are popping so fast that you can’t count them anymore. Keep shaking that popper! Eventually, they slow to almost a stop. If you wait too long for the last few to pop, the whole thing burns. It is an art, really.

In early June, the daylilies start to pop. One cultivator at a time, the buds get bigger and bigger. The early days are like a treasure hunt in the morning, looking to see if any popped during the night. In a month, we will be at peak. This honestly scares me a little, because if my bloom rate improves like I think it might, I have no clue how I will keep up with photographing them all. It is possible I’ll have days with 100! Crazy. I burn more space on my memory card during daylily season than any other time all year. Then, come mid-August, the explosion begins to settle down. It is back to treasure hunt mod, again. Except it is usually a couple months at the slower rate.

Dream Keeper 2018

So, today Dream Keeper came to visit. She is another Ned Roberts spider daylily. Her sibling (or parent?) is Dream Catcher – one of my most flourishing daylilies. Dream Keeper bloomed early in 2016, right after I put her in, but not again since that time. I love her orange coloring.

Saratoga Springtime 2018

The surprise today was Saratoga Springtime. This is her first ever bloom in my yard. I have had her for 2 years – but she was small and I put her in not the best place. Last summer, I moved the daylilies out of garden areas where they never bloomed. She is now by my driveway on a solar drip system. It seems to agree with her. The surprise was that her pot was mislabeled and I thought she was orange flurry. Geez, I need to get my labeling caught up soon.

I am guessing that the three that have bloomed thus far will be the early popcorn for the next week or so. They are really the only ones ready to pop. But . . . keep shaking because it won’t be long now.

Colorado Kid Daylilies

A Blog About My Western Colorado Daylily Adventure

Tag: Early blooming daylilies

Enchantment in the Garden

Popcorn