Unique Yard Art and Memorials for Daylily Gardens

July 14, 20242 Comments

My Memorial/Family/Pet Gardens

How many of my readers have a memorial garden integrated into your yard? Daylilies are great for memorial gardens because the names often speak to us of a friend or loved one. In fact, I have a family name section of my daylily garden with Catherine Irene, Mini Pearl, Stephanie Returns, Isaac, Mayan Poppy and Oh Erica that are all names of family members, both alive and dead. It’s almost as good as having them come to visit.

I also have a pet memorial garden that is actually coneflower. I didn’t get coneflowers with pet names – they have Southwestern names like Moab Sunset, though. I have my handmade memorial pet leaf castings, each with a little of my pet’s own ashes in the hypertufa (cement + sphagnum moss + vermiculate) mix. I also added some of my cute handmade garden gnomes and I have a plague for the first dog I lost, Maizzy. In the lilac tree that towers above the garden I have a solar bird feeder collection.

Please share a story about and/or photo of your memorial gardens in the comments!

Bouquet of the Day

After no new blooms yesterday, I had 5 today. I am at about 35% bloom rate. Not great for mid-season but the plateau shaped peak in blooms continues. We will see where we are when the last daylily blooms.

I had some vivid colors and some pastels today. And, an older near blue, Mildred Mitchell. The vivid orange of Nearly Wild and the deep maroon of Open My Eyes add stunning color to the collection. My pink girls – Fairytale Pink and Classy Lady – added a nice contrast.

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Yard Art & Memorials Added: Until The Last Daylily Blooms Sale

This blog inspired me to add my handmade yard art to the Until the Last Daylily Blooms Sale at my Etsy shop – at least for July-August 19th. Specifically, I added hypertufa leaf casting ash memorials, cement dog plaque memorials, garden gnomes, and mushrooms. These are great companions for daylily gardens.

Hypertufa Leaf Casting Ash Pet Memorial

Pet memorial ash leaf castings – click here for listing.

Cement Pet Memorial Plaque: Acrylic Pour and Solid Colors

I am playing with painting my cement dog/cat plaque memorials with pour acrylics. This is one I made yesterday. The lettering will be painted in a lighter color to make it more readable and other highlights added. I will get this listed as soon as possible, in the mean time if you are interested, please email me. I also can do custom colors if you prefer.

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Process video of a pour acrylic pet memorial plaque.

Garden and Holiday Gnomes: Pour Acrylic or Solid Colors

These garden gnomes are my “seconds” so I decided to try pour painting on them. I have 6 gnome styles (see slides below and click here for Etsy listing) and I am adding a couple new styles very soon. I normally paint them solid, traditional colors, but I will be adding some pour paint styles soon. Again, I can do custom colors – contact me via email or my Etsy shop.

Time For Nature

I’m headed off on a camping adventure tomorrow. It will be next weekend before I post, again, unless I do a post on wildflowers. You can follow our adventure at my travel blog – click here to visit and subscribe.

Another Peakish Day

July 20, 2023July 20, 20232 Comments

It was another peakish in the daylily garden. Not as many first blooms for 2023 as yesterday (or last year), but a decent number. It’s too late to catch-up to last year, but this hot weather is doing its darnedest.

I feel a little sad for my desert daylilies when it’s so hot and dry. They like the South or humid areas with rain much better. Blooms are so faded and look like melted wax by noon in so many. I’m not saying I don’t love them but the reason I take so many photos is to savor the blooms at their best without cooking myself in the sun.

Anyway – here is my Instagram reel with photos for today.

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Cultivators in order of appearance: Mayan Poppy, Pick of the Litter, Mildred Mitchell, Star Over Milagro, Truchas Sunrise, Little Grapette, Hesperus, and Bold Tiger.

We had a little monsoon today. Let’s hope the rains are back for the season. Short, intense, unpredictable but cooling and all moisture helps.

Please visit my website Www.artfromthehartt.com

Colorado Foothills

July 8, 2022Leave a comment

Gradual increases in elevation as we climb to the peak. Today, it felt like the peak was not too much more of a climb. Grab your oxygen, here are the new blooms for today:

Cricket Call 7.7 (Ned Roberts spider #15)

Maya Cha Cha 7.7 (Ned Roberts spider #16)

Rocky Mountain Pals 7.7 (Ned Roberts spider #17)

That’s 9 new, 44 in bloom today, and 70 total that have bloomed this year. That’s a 40% bloom rate and we are headed for around 90%. 70 down, almost 100 to go to reach that goal. Makes me tired but tomorrow, we climb, again. Good thing for our Rocky Mountain Pals.

First Frost! (and 26 daylilies)

July 23, 2016July 23, 2016Leave a comment

No, it’s really 88 degrees. It would be warmer if the monsoon clouds weren’t providing some shade. No real rain yet, but cooler than the last few weeks. In fact, cool enough for frost. Well, Lime Frost.

When I arranged daylilies last summer, I put plant labels and entered each location in my software. However, it doesn’t really sink in what is where until they bloom and then you remember to color. So, when I was checking for buds last night, I was surprised that Lime Frost looked full-term. This is booked as a very late season bloomer, but it is still mid-July. Oh, well, we had Desert Icicles so welcome to our delusion of cold weather.

Lime Frost – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

Another brand new face is Autumn Jewel. This was a gift plant – this spring. A later gift plant, even. I love the bloom. It is a relative of El Desperado. It’s slated as another late bloomer. But, here it is anyway.

Autumn Jewel – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

Fine Time Lucille is another brand new face today. I ordered her last summer when I was first learning the online order thing. The name sold this one . . . I have been humming the song all day.

Fine Time Lucille (with Primal Scream) – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

And, Skinwalker showed up in my Southwestern garden today . . . these first blooms are sometimes a little rough looking. Hoping for more soon from this one!

Skinwalker – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

Of mention is that Electric Lizard, having been fertilized, put in another pale bloom. I now wonder if it has too much sun. I am getting some more fans at a summer sale, as I think it would look better a little fuller.

Electric Lizard – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

So, here is the collage with all 26 blooms. I tried for rainbow order, as I had both a near-blue and a green in bloom today.

From L to R: Top Row – Baja, Indian Love Call, Ruby Spider, Thin Man, Soco Gap. Second Row – Orange Vols, Primal Scream, Aztec Firebird, South Seas. Third Row – Mini Pearl, Mayan Poppy, Pick of the Litter. Fourth Row – Skinwalker, Electric Lizard, Dream Catcher, Lullaby Baby. Fifth Row – Lime Frost. Sixth Row – Blue Beat. Seventh Row – Stephanie Returns, Prairie Blue Eyes, Return A Smile, Fine Time Lucille. Eighth Row – Blackthorne, Zuni Thunderbird, Purple de Oro, Autumn Jewel.

As peak lingers, I begin to think of next year. I want to do more work with the Southwest garden. Maybe some compost or manure around each plant. Loosen the soil around the roots and add the amendments. That area has been sterile of plants so long, it probably could use some bio additives. Pots, yes, some need to be relocated. Others need pebbles in the bottoms. It will be fun moving them inside the porch this winter – the evergreens. I have had 57 different cultivators bloom so far this year. Next year, 100 by this time! Let’s do it!

The Rainy Season (Monsoons!)

July 19, 2016July 19, 2016Leave a comment

Yesterday, I believe we got our first monsoon of the year. They are a couple weeks late – and I have missed the cooling off effect that they bring to the evening. I am curious to see how the this impacts the blooming.

Today brought 19 cultivators. Two are new – and I mean new, new. They have not bloomed here before; both were added last fall. The first one represents my granddaughter, Maia, in the family section. Her name is Mayan Poppy. I love the pastel colors.

Mayan Poppy – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

The other one was a small one fan gift plant that I wasn’t sure would make it. And, if it did, I did not anticipate blooms this year. This is Heavenly Curls. As a nurse-midwife, I look at some of these and wonder how they ever bloom without a c-section.

Heavenly Curles – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

The collage today was kind of fun. I paired like-looking flowers. Some were closer matches than others. Gives it a different look.

From L to R: Top Row – Zuni Thunderbird, Ruby Spider, Aztec Firebird, Dream Catcher, Pick of the Litter, Mayan Poppy. Second Row – Return A Smile, Stephanie Returns, Lullaby Baby, Isaac, Mildred Mitchell, Purple De Oro, “Montrose Sunset” (unknown), South Seas. Bottom Row – Inwood, Blackthorne, Heavenly Curls, Indian Love Call, Soco Gap.

Still no news. Thank heaven for my garden. I believe that brings me to 53 blooms for the year. I may just make that mid-60s (50%) goal. Some of my later bloomers are getting scapes! Yea!!!

All in the Family

July 12, 2016July 12, 20161 Comment

As I typed in this title, I actually Googled to see if there is an Archie Bunker daylily. Fortunately, my search didn’t find any such flower. The title of this blog is because I want to talk about a section of my daylily garden with names from my family. Because today Stephanie Returns returned for 2016. My oldest daughter is a Stephanie, too. And, she returned to Colorado the year that I came across this cultivator at the local nursery.

Stephanie Returns – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

Following after mom, my Isaac daylily is close to a first ever bloom in my yard. Definitely tomorrow. Isaac is also my 3-year-old grandson’s name.

Isaac bud – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

Mini Pearl was my grandma’s name, and I have a daylily by the same name with scapes, also added last year. Interestingly enough, there is a daylily named Catherine Irene which is also my mom’s first and middle name. I am still waiting on that one to send scapes. I have Mayan Poppy for my granddaughter, Maia. It also has scapes. I have a couple more to add in that section – I am waiting to see what space looks like after the first year. But, it is already a very special section of my garden. Right by my front door.

Other new faces for today are Razzamatazz, a pretty little purple bloom that I have had for a couple of years.

Razzamatazz – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

All-in-all, I have 12 full blooms and a very ready-to-bloom bud of Isaac. Today, I mixed-it-up and made the collage in alphabetical order. Lots of yellows and purples today.

From L to R. Top Row: Canyon Colors, Indian Love Call, Isaac, Lady Fingers. Row Two: Mesa Verde, Mildred Mitchell, Purple De Oro, Razzamatazz, Return A Smile. Bottom Row: Ruby Spider, Soco Gap, South Seas, and Stephanie Returns.

I have had 32 different cultivators bloom so far in 2016. That is somewhere around 25% of my daylily collection. I am hoping for 50% this year, because so many are new. And, the ones for $2 often take a couple years to bloom. My long-term goal is 80% per year. Time to quite, though, cause I am thinking like a doctor. And this is my get-away time.

Colorado Kid Daylilies

A Blog About My Western Colorado Daylily Adventure

Tag: Mayan Poppy