It is a drought in the high desert this year. Every day it seems I get a fire weather warning from Montrose County. It’s been consistently in the high 80s to mid 90s with very low (single digit) humidity. And, the daylilies are blooming, anyway. They bloom in their little pots that keep the desert tree roots out and the moisture in. They bloom in the middle of my rock easement on the alkaline, hard, clay soil. They bloom in the high UV until they melt into translucent shadows of themselves.
This is not the land where daylilies flourish in huge patches that can be divided and sold or shared at any volume. It’s the land of the Colorado Plateau with Arches, Monument Valley, Zion, Canyonlands and Horseshoe Bend. It’s the land where they film western movies. How many daylilies have you ever seen in a John Wayne movie?
So, it’s late and I don’t have a lot of time to blog. But, I don’t want to get behind. In the last week – here are the new faces (premier blooms for this year’s cycle) in my hot, dry desert garden:
That’s 18 in a week! Peak may come early because of the drought. It feels like it went from 0 to 60 in a New York Minute. Can’t wait to see what happens next week. Hope I can stay caught up!
It’s gotten hot, and my yard is exploding with many daylilies. Peak season is still a couple of weeks away, and I have about 130 cultivators with scapes! I lost a couple over the winter, so I need to update my total number one of these days.
All American Chief first bloom 6.22Bluegrass Music first bloom 6.23Burgundy Crab first bloom 6.18Candy Cane Dreams first bloom 6.22Comanche Princess first bloom 6.21NOID Dark Mystery first bloom 6.20Happy Returns first bloom 6.21Hopi Jewell first bloom 6.20Jungle Queen first bloom 6.16Land of Enchantment first bloom 6.23Orchid Moonrise first bloom 6.21Prairie Wildfire first bloom 6.19Primal Scream first bloom 6.23NOID Red Riddle first bloom 6.22Return a Smile first bloom 6.18Ruby Spider first bloom 6.18Stephanie Returns first bloom 6.23The Potter’s Touch first bloom 6.23Wild Horses first bloom 6.16Yellow Punch first bloom 6.22
Wow! That’s 20 more cultivators in bloom since my first post of the year! My very large array is getting larger! Today, I celebrate 3 years retired from 40 years of nursing. Quite a retirement anniversary bouquet.
I will say that some of my buds opened funny today – Stephanie Returns and Bluegrass Music both look like they wanted to sleep in. We have had days of fire weather with highs in the 90s, wind speeds 35+ MPH, and humidity under 15% (often single digits). And, we are still in extreme drought here (although no water restrictions yet). I think the buds get dried out! I will also say that the super ruffled blooms just don’t open right in such low humidity. I stay away from super ruffles now.
My community work consumes me. I don’t feel as retired as I did last year. I have always made time for the daylily blog. This year, I feel what I am doing is time-sensitive, and I need to balance my time with that in mind. I am not doing daily Instagram posts this year. I think I will update my latest blooms and gardening tips here about once a week.
Tip for today: Deserts don’t have ruffles! They have ridges.
Which of my blooms from this blog is your favorite?
The weather has turned from spring to summer since my last post a couple weeks ago! It is in the mid to upper 90s this week. The scapes are sprouting fast and furious. I have around 100 cultivators with scapes now. I’m never sure how the daylilies will respond to drought, but I am optimistic that my bloom rate will be decent. My water bill, not so much! (I am city water dependent. It’s not cheap because we don’t get much help from Mother Nature.)
I have two cultivators that just came into bloom today. Jungle Queen and Wild Horses. Sounds like the title of a good sci-fi novel. I asked AI and got the photo below. I kind of like it. Maybe I need to use some fun AI photos of daylily names in the blog this year!
What AI says Jungle Queen and Wild Horses look like!
Here are the actual blooms. Both of these are cultivators that were early to my collection and neither bloomed last year. Good to see them back.
Jungle QueenWild Horses
My Maylily was Saratoga Springtime. I don’t usually have a Maylily, so worth a mention that the blooms started earlier than usual.
My other early bloomers are Dream Keeper and Stella de Oro. Both are still actively blooming. I always say when Saratoga Springtime gets done, that is when the popcorn starts to pop.
Daylily popcorn!
It’s getting too hot to be outside during the day. Maybe I will have more time to post between camping and community involvement! This year brings new civic priorities but I will do my best to keep you all updated on what is going on in my Western Colorado daylily garden!
My pups, Cimarron, Kachina, and Kokopelli, enjoying camping season at Ridgway, CO last week.
And, decidedly into the fire. Several new blooms for 2022 doesn’t sound like many. It really isn’t too bad. Going from less than a dozen in bloom/day to almost 2 dozen today felt like daylily season.
Chaco Canyon 6.29
I have 72 cultivators with scapea and or bloomed in the Southwest Visions garden. I don’t have more than a handful with nothing. It’s the same everywhere in my yard this year.
Purple Moonrise 6.29
I had 2 premiere Ned Roberts spiders. Chaco Canyon and Orchid Moonrise.
Other premiers are Jungle Queen, Early Bird Cardinal, Thin Man, Primal Scream, and Mesa Verde.
The next two posts are a listing of the daylilies that have bloomed ANYTIME during July – even if they started in June. It is a large list but also a colorful one. I believe only 3 of my cultivators were totally done in June – Saratoga Springtime, Scorpio and yellow Stella de Oro.
If you like Ned Roberts cultivators, you have come to the right place because I have about 70 of them, and most (except Navajo Curls and Adios Albuquerque) that are going to bloom the year have bloomed sometime during July.
I went to the rodeo here last night, so I am all practiced-up and ready to go.
Alabama Jubilee 6.26-7.10All American Chief 6.22-7.9Apache Bandana 6.30-7.10Autumn Jewels 7.16-presentAztec Firebird 7.8-7.31Baby Blue Eyes 7.6-7.27Baja 7.10-7.29Bella Boo 7.2-7.16Bela Lugosi 7.4-7.26Big Red Rhyme (NOID) 6.22-7.11Black Arrowhead 7.6-7.30Blackthorne 7.6-7.13Black Eyed Susan 7.4-7.19Black Ice 7.4-7.18Blue Beat 7.9-7.17Buttered Popcorn 7.7-7-25Candy Cane Dreams 7.1-7.19Canyon Colors 6.15-presentCatherine Irene 6.24-7.13Chaco 6.27-presentCheddar Cheese 7.3-7.17Cherokee Star 7.9-8.1Cheyenne Eyes 7.6-7.19Chief Four Fingers 6.12-7.15Chokecherry Mountain 7.5-7.27Chorus Line 7.6-presendClassy Lady 7.6-7.29Coburg Fright Wig 7.11-7.30Comanche Princess 6.18-7.11Coral Taco 7.2-7.16Cricket Call 7.3-7.17Cripple Creek 7.19-presentDancing Maiden 7.16-presentDesert Icicle 7.26-presentDr Doom 7.30-presentDream Catcher 7.14-presentDream Keeper 6.11-7.1Early Bird Cardinal 6.27-7.13Echo Canyon 6.21-7.10El Desperado 7.17-presentFairytale Pink 7.11-7.17Feather Woman 7.5-7.9Fine Time Lucille 7.10-7.17Fol de Rol 7.4-7.17Fooled Me 7.10-7.16Frans Hals 7.15-present“Fringe Benefit” 6.27-7.12 (mislabeled bonus)Funny Valentine 6.20-7.8Ghost Ranch 7.12-7.17Glen Eyrie 7.25-7.30 (started while I was on vaca 7.19-24)
Golden Eclipse 7.16-present
Happy Hopi 7.7-7.31Happy Returns 6.27-7.12Heavenly Curls 7.5-7.17Heirloom Heaven 7.25-presentHesperus 7.12-presentHoly Sombrero 7.7-7.25Hopi Jewel 6.27-7.17Iktomi 7.9-7.29Indian Love Call 7.13-7.27Indian Sky 7.13-presentIndian Giver 6.30-7.17Inwood 6.22-7.12Jungle Queen 7.1-7.19-24? Finished during vacationJust Plumb Happy 7.4-7.15Kachina Dancer 6.30-7.16Kokopelli 6.25-7.19Lacy Doily 7.3-7.16Lady Fingers 6.23-7.19Land of Enchantment 6.23-7.11Lime Frost 7.11-7.16Lobo Lucy 7.13-7.31Longlesson Showoff 7.5.7.18Lullaby Baby 7.7 to presentMama Cuna 7.11-presentMarque Moon 7.13-7.19 (ended 7.19-7.24 during vaca)Mauna Loa 6.27-7.10Maya Cha Cha 7.4-7.19Medicine Feather 7.5-7.18Melon Balls 7.6-7.15Mesa Verde 6.15-7.13Mini Pearl 6.26-7.31Mount Echo Sunrise 6.28-7.19
Finally caught-up taking photos off my camera. Never let that go for a week or two this time of year – you play heck catching-up. So, I thought I would get the blog fully up-to date by sharing our July 1-3 premier blooms for this year. Enjoy. Hopefully, tomorrow I start get back in daily sync. The good news is I got my art cove all cleaned, decluttered and added some fun stuff. That means the daylily paintings are coming – for sale through my business Art and Nature From the Hartt http://artandnaturefromthehartt.com
Bella Boo premier 7.2Black Eyed Susan premier 7.2Black Ice premier 7.2Candy Cane Dreams premier 7.1Cheddar Cheese premier 7.3Coral Taco premier 7.2Cricket Call premier 7.3Fol de Rol premier 7.3Jungle Queen premier 7.1Lacey Doily premier 7.3Papa Long Legs premier 7.2Prairie Blue Eyes premier 7.1Prelude to Love premier 7.3Route 66 premier 7.1Santa Fe Christmas premier 7.2Soco Gap premier 7.2Thin Man premier 7.3Wild Rose Fandango premier 7.1
That’s 18 more in 3 days (wholly cow)! That brings our total to 70 that have bloomed so far. Happy 4th – hope to post the morning daylilies tomorrow.
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:
All American Chief 6.26.20Blue Beat 6.2020Canyon Colors 6.19.20Catherine Irene 6.28.20Chaco Canyon 6.25.20Cheyenne Eyes 6.30.20Comanche Princess 6.29.20Coral Taco 6.30.20Dream Keeper 6.7.20Early Bird Cardinal 6.29.20Echo Canyon 6.29.20Funny Valentine 6.19.20Happy Returns 6.21.20Hopi Jewel 6.28.20Indian Love Call 6.25.20Inwood 6.24.20Jungle Queen 6.21.20Kachina Dancer 6.30.20Kokopelli 6.25.20Lady Fingers 6.30.20Land of Enchantment 6.20.20Laughing Feather 6.26.20Mauna Loa 6.28.20Mesa Verde 6.28.20Mildred Mitchell 6.24.20Mini Pearl 6.28.20Mount Echo Sunrise 6.30.20Name Unknown “Nosferatwo” 6.25.20Nurse’s Stethoscope 6.22.20Ojo de Dios 6.28.20Petite Petticoats 6.24.20Pink and Cream 6.24.20Pink Enchilada 6.30.20Pink Rain Dance 6.29.20Prairie Blue Eyes 6.29.20Primal Scream 6.30.20Purple Many Faces 6.25.20Return a Smile 6.25.20Rocky Mountain Pals 6.29.20Ruby Spider 6.24.20Santa’s Pants 6.28.20Saratoga Springtime 6.18.20Golden Stella de Oro 6.18.20Yellow Stella de Oro 6.28.20The Colorado Kid 6.24.20Thin Man 6.30.30Wild Horses 6.29.20Wineberry Candy 6.28.20Yellow Punch 6.19.20
Today marks almost 3 weeks since the first bloom of 2020. I’ve had about 31 cultivators bloom so far. Not quite 20% of my daylilies.
Hopi Jewel 6.25.20
Today brought several new faces to the group – so the daylily epidemic is upon us. Hopi Jewel is a fun cultivator with an interesting shape. She was a bonus daylily for one of my Southwestern daylily name orders.
Echo Canyon 6.25.20
I did well with Robert’s spider daylily premier blooms. Echo Canyon came to visit for the first time of 2020. Such a lanky spider.
Coral Taco 6.25.20
Coral Taco also joined us today for the premier of 2020. She is another lanky Roberts cultivator.
Chaco Canyon 6.25.20
Chaco Canyon, a little less lanky spider from the Roberts group also showed up. I love the place Chaco Canyon. I wonder if I would favor these daylilies less if they had names that didn’t bring to mind my roadtrips?
Mini Pearl 6.25.20
Mini Pearl from my family name section also gave us a premier today. She was purchased because my grandma was named Mini Pearl.
Now, for my finales (OMG – the summer always goes too fast):
Mildred Mitchell 6.24.20 finale
I missed that Mildred Mitchell had a finale bloom yesterday. She was short lived this year – only one scape. I think my near blues need to be repotted in fresh soil, again. Bluegrass Music appears to be taking the year off.
Saratoga Springtime 6.25.1 finale
Saratoga Springtime also had her finale bloom. Springtime is gone, afterall. She gets a lot of attention because she has the yard to herself for a couple weeks. Well, she and the plainer yellow trumpets and Dream Keeper.
Jungle Queen 6.25.1 NOT a finale
Tomorrow, another day, another camping trip. When it is January, I think about summer and wonder how the he## I fit it all in. Mostly, no sleep . . . well, a little but not enough.
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.
Dream Keeper 6.21.20
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.
Mauna Loa 6.21.20
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.
Petite Petticoats 6.21.20
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 6.21.20
Purple Many Faces showed her face for the first time in 2020 today. Another colorful Roberts cultivator.
Return a Smile 6.21.20
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.
Kokopelli 6.21.20Land of Enchantment 6.21.20Jungle Queen 6.21.20Mildred Mitchell 6.21.20
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.
Funny Valentine 6.21.20Indian Love Call
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!
Mesa Verde 6.21.20Ojo de Dios 6.21.20
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.
Saratoga Springtime 6.21.20Happy Returns 6.21.20
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.
It is the longest day of the year for another hour or so in Colorado. Summer is here – the season of the daylily explosion. And, now the world takes us slowly to that dark, cold December day a few days before Christmas.
Wild Horses 6.20.20
It wasn’t a real exciting day in the garden. I had one premier – Wild Horses. I really like the shape and color of her blooms. She is one of my favorite on the back porch.
Funny Valentine 6.20.20
I also am so disappointed in myself for not watching my scape when I went to get some sedum cuttings and accidentally knocked 3 buds off Jungle Queen. Every summer I do something like that and it hangs with me for a bit.
Mesa Verde 6.20.20
The good news is that the new sedum garden looks good. It is a little garden made of wine bottles with a new mural of a Navajo Tree of Life. It is the back side of my garage so I never painted there before – but it is my view from where I sit to eat. So, it’ll be fun.
Saratoga Springtime 6.20.20
Tomorrow, I extend my drip system to an area where my pots only get sprinkler water. It isn’t enough during the hot, dry weather. At this point, it may be too late to influence scape formation, but it could keep my buds from drying up before they bloom.
Golden Stella 6.20.20Yellow Stella 6.20.20Yellow Punch 6.20.20
Any, hey, I own mother nature 3 buds now. And, that is the way the world turns.
Colorado Kid Daylilies 