Welcome to Summer 2024: A Flair For Florescence!

June 21, 20241 Comment

Hello, fellow daylily lovers,

It is summer, again. I have had 3 daylilies bloom this season: Saratoga Springtime on 6.6, Burgundy Crab on 6.10, and Mesa Verde today. I have about 60-70 scapes. My bloom rate may be down this year because we didn’t get much local snow/groundwater last year. The mountains got a lot, but that doesn’t help my pots if I don’t turn on the hose.

I feel that selling my beautiful begonias at Country Flair in Montrose, CO is creating some gardening burnout for me. A few of my daylilies are really struggling – I mean I may lose them. Others have grass or weeds in the pots and I didn’t repot this spring. I’m an artist first and foremost (after being a retired nurse/nurse-midwife and a wellbeing practitioner.) Oh, and rescue dog mom. Time flies and plants take time. Looking forward to the daylily blooms has always been a joy – but now that the begonias are a year-around job, I just don’t get the same dopamine fix.

Camping with my rescue dogs last weekend – Kachina, Cimarron, and Kokopelli

That creates a quandary about what to do with the blog this summer. I only posted for a month last year. Really? Why? Because I needed my time back for my business – plus camping, hiking, my travel blog, etc. I will try the Instagram reels, again, because that seemed to work OK. I always say I can keep going until the last bloom – I’ll try, again!

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A post shared by Cathy Hartt (@artfromthehartt)

The good news is that I’m also going to be plugging some of my stunning daylily artwork that I sell in my Etsy shop. I am running a 25% off sale “until the last daylily blooms” – so come check that out! I have cards, wall art, clocks, and pots with daylily designs – all handmade!

Anyway, things are heating up – although today was cool and rainy. Not sure who is next. Maybe Kokopelli?

Land of Enchantment

August 24, 2019August 24, 2019Leave a comment

I love New Mexico. It is, indeed, lives up to its motto of being the Land of Enchantment. I have a fair number of daylilies named after New Mexico places. More than any other State with the exception of Colorado. Probably largely because Spiderman, Ned Roberts, (my favorite hybridizer) lived in Albuquerque for several years.

Land of Enchantment 2019

We traveled through New Mexico on our April Southwest road trip this year. We saw badlands, flea markets, monuments, ruins, and white sands. It was awesome . . . at least until norovirus hit and wrecked havoc on the last 4 days of a 9 day trip. But, I was well until we were in Arizona and headed back toward the 4-corners.

Chaco Canyon 2019

We will be down in the 4-corners area for Labor Day. I am looking forward to it . . . I should say we were also near there on our summer road trip, but not in New Mexico.

Chama Valley 2019

I have actually visited places in New Mexico because I have daylilies with that name. Like Ghost Ranch – totally put it on the map because of my daylily.

Ghost Ranch 2019

Chaco Canyon I visited long before my daylily collection – It is such a sacred place with the roughest 20 something mile road in the world. But worth it.

Santa Fe Christmas 2019

Santa Fe is a pretty yuppie town (is that still a word?) Artists abound and it is kind of pricy, but we were near there a few years ago passing through New Mexico.

Truchas Sunrise – 2019

Truchas, New Mexico is about halfway between Santa Fe and Taos. I actually contemplated driving there just because of my daylily, but didn’t like the traffic of Santa Fe.

Star over Milagro 2019

I’ve never been to Milagro – but it isn’t too far from the Salinas Pueblo Mission Ruins south of Albuquerque that we have visited a couple of times. Next time, maybe I will plan to go watch stars over Milagro.

Moon over Chimayo

Chimayo, New Mexico is east of Espanola, where my favorite Aunt Pearl once lived. The road trips have taken us close to Chimayo . . . maybe next time.

Navajo Grey Hills 2019

Navajo Grey Hills is likely named after Two Grey Hills Trading Post. This is a place I have driven through between Shiprock and Window Rock on the Navajo reservation. Honestly, it must have been before one of my daylilies was named after the place because I had to look up where the name came from. Again . . . future destination.

Adios Albuquerque 2019

I have been to Albuquerque many times. I don’t like cities – but there are also some cool smaller towns and attractions near Albuquerque. I like Petroglyph National Monument! US Highway 550 starts in my hometown of Montrose, CO and ends just north of Albuquerque – 305 miles from my door (+/-). Chaco Canyon is along that route. I often take the backroads, though.

So, tonight I am using internet explorer to blog. Still glitchy (my photos keep disappearing) but faster than Edge. Ugh . . . I may just have to switch out of S Mode and go back to Chrome. This would be murder during peak season.

The Sun, and the Rain, and the Daylily Roots

August 16, 2016August 16, 2016Leave a comment

When it comes to places to live, I stay on the sunny side. This place west of the Divide and east of the desert is not the habitat of daylilies. They are go-getters, though. I have only lost one or two of all those that I put in last year. Some act pretty shocked for a bit. Like, hey, we aren’t in Georgia anymore, Toto. So, below is my city’s annual precipitation from city-data.com – we are a couple standard deviations below the mean.

And, below are the sunshine days. Here, we are close to a couple standard deviations above the mean. Desert daylilies.

The downside of this climate, along with the very base ph, clay soil, is that it is nothing like the natural daylily habitat. It is trial and error. And some stuff you don’t get to see the results from for a year. And, so, today I finished putting my mulch concoction on my main flower garden cultivators. We will see if this helps. Not that I did poorly this year, but Stephanie Returns didn’t return. In fact, she only had one scape. She is not the only one who is below her mean. So, let’s hope this mulching is more than just a load of BS.

A few blooms to go with the calluses, sunburn, and bug bites. Two of my last three Pizza Crust buds:

Pizza Crust – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

And, my Stellas. Yeez, I wish those gals could help with yard work.

Yella Stella – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

Golden Stella – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

PS – Heirloom Heaven is close – and has another brand new scape. Hopefully, the mulching won’t hurt these little buds. I think Red Hot Returns is very close, too. Tomorrow ????

Black Ice on a Summer Day

June 24, 2016Leave a comment

Black ice reminds me of winter roads in Colorado. I live rural and often have had a hefty commute to work. Black ice is why I prefer to be off those roads by sundown. And, it has caused me to fall on my face walking the dogs a few times, too.

Today, though, Black Ice brings positive emotion. I love this new addition to my garden! First bloom today. It looks like black velvet to me. And, it spilled pollen down it’s front peddle. This is another Ned Roberts creation that is in my new Southwestern garden. Black Ice may not remind everyone of the Southwest. It does me. I live here.

Black Ice – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

Other blooms are Early Bird Cardinal (That yard flag in the background has a red cardinal on it and next shot, I will untangle it for the photo. Those colors are very close!)

Early Bird Cardinal – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

And, huge old Ruby Spider!

Ruby Spider – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

Lastly, poor frail Electric Lizard’s last bud (for now). I am cutting off its fans to see if it will thicken up. I am hopeful for a couple more blooms this year.

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

I have a bunch of buds that look nearly ready to bust. Wild Horses, Mesa Verde and Saratoga Springtime look the closest. It looks like more Black Ice is on the weather report for tomorrow (or soon), too. I can’t wait. It’s better than an Easter Egg hunt every morning!

Leaping Lizards!

June 9, 2016June 9, 2016Leave a comment

One of the interesting things about adopting some evergreens this year is watching them adapt to life outside of the winter porch, again. I had one premature bloom on Indian Sky in March and had to cut the fans back because they were a little anemic looking after that. It seems to be recovering.

The other one that I have been keeping an eye on because it looks a little scraggly is Electric Lizard. This guy is special to me because he was one of my very first Lily Auction buys. I remember that day so well. I was editing a final paper for one of my first term courses while I waited to participate in the bidding on a couple of daylilies that I really wanted for my Southwestern garden. Well, the first one came and went with me totally losing out to a flurry of bidding. Total neophyte at online auctions, I was. And, I really wanted the other one that was up for bid later.

It became obvious that I needed to find some affordable lilies that were up for bid between now and the time of the second Southwest bloom. Why? So I could figure out the system. I ended up winning three before that second lily came up on the clock. And, I figured it out. First, on a slow item . . . then I slowly turned up the volume.

Electric Lizard was my first fast bidding experience. And, I obviously won the iridescent bloom. Won, of course, is a misnomer because you pay more when you battle the competition. And it’s addicting. I have never done a full-day like that since.

So, now this somewhat skinny-leafed friend has a scape with a bud that looks ready to open soon. Very soon. Maybe tomorrow. It has to think spring started in February on my porch to be the first bloomer of 2016, because it is supposed to wait until mid-season. Happy Returns is always the first, but it looks like it will get beaten this year. And, once the daylily popcorn starts to pop, it’s just going to keep going. Can’t wait . . . time to charge the camera battery because this blurry cell phone shot does not do it justice.

(PS the Electric Lizard bloom photo is from the Lily Auction).

Getting my Kicks

June 8, 2016June 8, 2016Leave a comment

As the scapes grow in preparation for blooms and the outdoor thermostat gets turned up, I think about the first sign of spring. For me, that is my Southwest road trip. It is a new tradition for the last three years. When you drive south from Colorado, it is nearly impossible not to hit #Route66.

The first year, it was the goal to travel Route 66. We took the old road as much as we could, and took the Route 66 turnout at our end point, the Petrified Forest. I love this old car at the turn-out!

The Petrified Forest/Painted Desert have become favorite stops because they are #dogfriendly. There are very few National Parks with such open rules about dogs. So, it is a great ice cream and a hike stop.

And, the scenery is like something out of Jurassic Park. What was once the far point of my trip is now more of a gateway to the Senora Desert.

So, what does this matter to a daylily blog? Well, first of all, I take the trip about the time that the daylilies are starting to send up new growth for the year. But the other really cool part is that after that first trip to Route 66, I came home to find a daylily named Route 66.

I found it in the local garden shop, before I got addicted to the mail order daylilies. It was one of those strange coincidences, just like my 6/5/16 blog about finding a local Stephanie Returns daylily the year my daughter, Stephanie, returned to Colorado. Route 66 is an older daylily that was hybridized in 1967. The colors match my Route 66 tea shirt. It is a hardy daylily and I look forward to seeing it again in 2016!

Welcome to my daylily blog

June 5, 2016June 5, 20162 Comments

Thanks for visiting my daylily blog. Last year, I started back to school full-time to complete a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree. I am an educator and healthcare leader, so I felt ready for some added wisdom. I have always been a fan of daylilies, and the past year I would say that they have become my therapist. I am also a resilience coach and believe these flowers are the symbol of flourishing.

So, last year, I discovered the joy of ordering daylily roots directly from the hybridizers and growers. Before that, I was dependent on the varieties at the local nurseries. I have gotten some great cultivators that way! However, last year I decided that I wanted to reorganize my languishing front path garden and make daylilies the primary flower. And, for cost and variety sake, I decided to try my luck at using mail order.

Like all new hobbies, there is a learning curve to this stuff. And, so I ordered too late for blooms last year. I used coconut pots that cramped the roots, which didn’t help. At first, I used just one grower. Then, I got fascinated with the near blue daylilies, and those searches lead me to a couple of other farmers. By fall, I figured out the auctions, as well as several other mail order daylily suppliers.

I studied evergreens, semi-evergreens, and dormant varieties. The blue ones were often evergreen and spent the winter on the porch. Those blue ones that were semi-evergreen stayed outside and succumbed to a late freeze. Even one of the ones that looked good inside has slowly died this spring. That was hard because they were expensive! And, I didn’t know about getting the best deals, so I paid too much for them.

Fortunately, I still have five near-blues that are thriving. I also have around 140 other varieties. My late summer interest was the Ned Roberts daylilies with Southwestern names. I started with Kokopelli on the auction. Now, I have a whole section of the rock garden converted for a variety of those blooms.

And, so this blog is born as a way to document the beauty of the daily flowers with photography. I have almost a dozen scapes growing on daylilies, so the first blooms are only a couple of weeks away. I hope you enjoy and will share your adventures with your own gardens here.

Today, I am sharing a photo of one of my favorites, Stephanie Returns. This variety is one that I got from a local grower last spring. That was the same season that my daughter, Stephanie, returned to Colorado. Until those blooms happen, I will be blogging about some of my oldies from last year.

Colorado Kid Daylilies

A Blog About My Western Colorado Daylily Adventure

Tag: montrose