Drought Impact on Daylilies: Black Canyon of the Gunnison South Rim Fire & Garden Update

July 12, 2025Leave a comment

Hi Daylily Lovers,

The South Rim Fire, Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

I want to start by saying a few words about the drought that has been growing in Western Colorado all season. Yesterday, in the early hours of the morning, a “dry lightning” storm came through and set off multiple fires in our region. This is like striking a match to dry kindling.

Now, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison is evacuated because of an active fire on the South Rim – about 15 miles away on the road – maybe 10 miles as the crow flies. The smoke and air quality are bad. The South Rim Fire is one of three very active fires in my county – the others are the Sow Belly Fire and the Deer Creek Fire. I can hear the aircraft humming almost constantly from my garden, about 2 miles from our airport.

Watch Duty screen shot 7.11.24 Montrose County, CO

So many daylily farmers live in places that get regular rain. Here, the daylilies often get their only water from my City water hose. But, beyond the daylilies, please keep our firefighters in your thoughts as they battle these blazes in 90+ degree weather and single-digit humidity.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park photo (credit Facebook) 7.11.25

Garden Update: First Blooms for 2025 Since July 4th

I’ve had a lot of bloomers since I last posted on July 4th. It’s hot now, too uncomfortable to garden. And, now there is smoke. But, I still manage to get out everyday for my photos and a jog around the neighborhood.

I hit peak bloom 2 days ago, with 60+ in bloom that day. As of today, I have had 113 total cultivators in bloom this season for a bloom rate of 60%. I am hoping to make it to 80% this season. If I keep all the current buds and add a few more, I’ll be OK. Bud blast happens in these conditions, thought. I need 39 more!

I continue with my community volunteer work. I feel that is my priority this summer, but I miss my more frequent and in-depth posts about daylily gardening. Fortunately, it has been a better bloom year than I expected with the drought. And, I am getting a couple of hours on my porch editing my photos every day. It is a joyful escape (even in the heat) from today’s politics. I am grateful for my daily daylily escape!

Until next week, keep blooming! Cathy H

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.

Code Red

July 27, 2023Leave a comment

I’ve had 3 red and 1 orange daylily have their premiere blooms for 2023 since my last blog 2 days ago. It’s hot and by evening i look like my cooked daylilies. Enjoy!

Please visit my website Www.artfromthehartt.com

All Hell Broke Loose While I Was Camping

July 16, 2022July 16, 2022Leave a comment

I have no idea where to even start with premiers. I’m buried in catching up with daylily photos. I’ll give it a shot. Thank heaven I post to Facebook every day. Sometimes I do miss things, though.

7.11: Lobo Lucy, Laughing Feather, Happy Hopi, Chokecherry Mountain, Apache Uprising, and Soco Gap

7.14: Ruby Stella, Hesperus, Orange Flurry, Purple Many Faces, Kachina Dancer, Kiva Dancer, Cherokee Star, Papa Long Legs, Western Sandstone, Classy Lady, One of my new OZ daylilies that need labels (I believe).

7.15: Glen Eyrie, Scorpio, Route 66, Fooled Me, Echo Canyon, Twirling Pinata, Medicine Feather, Star Over Milgro, Black Ice, Winds of Love, Nearly Wild, Rosie’s Red, Mildred Mitchell, Fairytale Pink, and Navajo Rodeo

And, whatever I missed. And, my one bud on Lacy Doily bloomed when I was gone. So, if lighting strikes but no one is in earshot, is there thunder? Yes. To the bees and butterflies.

I need a stiff drink before I finish. Lol. That’s 31 new faces since I posted on Sunday. Sometimes, I wish we could flatten the curve of peak a little. Gonna be crazy for a bit.

July Daylily Round-up N-Z

August 1, 20211 Comment

Here is part 1 of this blog post These posts include all daylilies that were in bloom in July in my yard. Please see first post for more details.

Nosferatu 7.12-7.19 (end 7.19-7.24 during vaca)

Oh Erica 7.17 (end 7.19-7.24 during vaca)

Pizza Crust (started week of 7.19)-present

Purple Grasshopper 6.11-present. Non-stop!

Red Hot Returns 7.11-7.19 (ended 7.19-7.25 during vaca)

Royal Braid 7.18 (ended 7.19-7.25 during vaca)

Ruby Spider 6.22-7.19 (ended 7.19-7.24 during vaca)

Spirit of the Morning 7.12-8.1 (unless I missed a bud)

No U, No V – I need to fix that with some new flowers 🙂

No X, either!

Yellow Punch 6.15-7.4 (first encore 7.31)

That is all for July, folks. Look for our Colorado Day (8/1) blooms up next!

Duos, Trios, and Quartets

July 18, 2021Leave a comment

The peak is easing, somewhat rapidly. I only had 40+ today, yesterday was 50+, and the day before 60+. And, so the tide recedes for another season. Not that it is over . . . anything but. However, I can keep up with this pace and it will continue to decline while I am away for a few days. I will only miss 4 days of photos.

I can slow my pace just a bit and savor the duos, trios and quartets of blooms. Daylilies don’t clump with a zillion blooms at once much in the desert. So, it is fun to focus on seeing the small gatherings.

One premier today!

Royal Braid was a bonus that came with Oh, Erica last year. I like it, and always appreciate a later bloomer in the patio area to keep it alive for longer.

Finales:

What are we waiting for – Zuni Thunderbird, Purple Thunderbird, Desert Icicle, Adios Albuquerque, Glen Eyrie, Cripple Creek, Navajo Curls, Skinwalker, Purple Corn Dancer, Royal Palace Prince, Heirloom Heaven, Dr Doom and Pizza Crust all have scapes now but have not bloomed. I could get some other later scapes, too. That is still a lot to look forward to when I return from New Mexico (or tomorrow).

And, Stephanie Returns plays in quartet today.

So far, I have had 140 +/- cultivators bloom and it looks like at least 13 more – so mid-150s/180 puts us at mid 80s bloom rate. Much better than last year. I am looking at moving some new, more reliable bloomers in to replace those that bloom only occasionally and aren’t favorites. I love the smell of new daylily roots! Eventually, they will sing duos, trios, and quartets in my yard.

I Dig the Mamas and the Papas

July 12, 2021Leave a comment

I Dig The Mamas And The Papas At “The Trip, “
Sunset Strip In L.A.
And They Got A Good Thing Goin’
When The Words Don’t Get In The Way.

I chuckle today at the double meaning in the old Peter, Paul and Mary song. I do dig the Mamas and the Papas – literally and figuratively. Mama Cuna and Papa Longlegs, that is. Well, hey, today they showed up on the same day so the song has been in my head all day. See the featured photo for the cultivator blooms together today.

And, all day, I have been working in the daylily garden or on my photos because another record was broken today . . . 69 cultivators in bloom. It is partially bloom rate and partially bud count. These guys are blooming for weeks instead of days. I do have other things I need to do . . . I am glad I cleaned the house before this hit!

OK, so in addition to Mama Cuna of the Mamas and Papas, I had 6 premiers today – 7 total. We are still on top of the Grand Daylily Mesa with the blooms – this high plateau is like watching COVID cases last summer – but hopefully it dies down without a real epidemic because I have altitude sickness already.

Coburg Fright Wig 7.11 – I ordered this years ago for my front garden when I was filling it out with daylilies.

Fairy Tale Pink 7.11 – I believe this was a bonus several years ago. She is doing better with a drip system!

Lime Frost 7.11 – I wouldn’t mind a lime frost from the 7.11 about now. She was mail order several years ago, I believe. I really need to move my daylily software to my functioning computer because it knows.

Mama Cuna 7.11 – all wrapped up in the yucca. She has great big blooms.

Nearly Wild 7.11 – She was a bonus and I think she got her name because she looks like her ditch lily ancestor.

Purple de Oro 7.11 – A small grape colored bloom. I have never been super attached. Her pot is full of grass. Maybe I should put another mini in with her?

Red Hot Returns 7.11 – A parent to Passionate Returns. Local nursery cultivator.

This is usually about the time of year when I see the peak fading and I hate my bloom rate so I head to the nursery for a couple that still have buds so I can have a few more blooms. I am not doing that this year – although there is a Ned Roberts that I may add to the collection next year. Help me, I am drowning in the Mamas and the Papas! Please, dig me out of these blooms!

So, here are the finales so far this year.

Platinum Pink Pallet Whispers finale 7.2

That is 117 in and 20 out, meaning I have 90 some actively blooming and others with premiers coming soon.

Daylily Photobombs

July 27, 2019July 27, 2019Leave a comment

The peak lives on with 72 blooms today. One of the things about photographing so many daylilies before I have to leave for work is that I get in a rush. I focus on the flower and hit the shutter button. Sometimes, when I am editing later, I find stuff that I didn’t notice at the time.

My favorite photobombs have other daylilies that I didn’t notice in the background – like Happy Hopi today:

Happy Hopi with friends Laughing Feather and Zuni Thunderbird 7/26

And, the most common photobombs are when I cut off a petal in the shot by a lot. Why am I struggling to get photos of Navajo Grey Hills?

Navajo Grey Hills 7/26

Of course, there are occasionally cat photobombs:

Skinwalker and my cat, Sokasbai – 7/25

Or, dog photobombs:

Blue Beat and my dog, Maizzy – 7/25

The most embarrassing, though, are the foot photobombs. The flower is at a weird angle, so you try to bend over so you can get a front shot. What was I thinking?

Black Ice and my feet – 7/26

OK – so what about Premiers. Only three today. The pace slows a bit, although I saw my neighbors at dinner and the first thing they talked about was my giant daylilies. So, it isn’t over yet!

Nona’s Garnet Spider was a bonus. She hasn’t been a consistent bloomer but is putting on a good show of buds this year.

Nona’s Garnet Spider – 7/26

Autumn Jewels . . . I think this was a bonus, too. She is related to El Desperado. I had a huge El Desperado for years but lost it to the weird, cold, wet spring. I lost a couple and several had setbacks . . . but so many are blooming this year that haven’t before or the regulars have a higher bud count than usual. It’s interesting the yin and yang of this year. Anyway – I got a new El Desperado and it is just putting up scapes now. I like both of these cultivators.

Autumn Jewels – 7/26

And, Nearly Wild is another bonus plant – she looks like her ancestor, the ditch lily or Fulva. I am sure that is where she gets her name.

Nearly Wild – 7/26

It is raining, again. We will see what that brings.

Sleeping In

August 10, 2018Leave a comment

The season winds down, and I find myself hitting my snooze a couple extra times. The work of the daylilies has gotten to be a lot less intensive. It has positives and negatives. Here are today’s bloomers:

Finales:

Nearly Wild 8.9

Pizza Crust 8.9

The rest from 8.9:

Purple Corn Dancer

Pink and Cream

Dream Catcher 8.9

For fun, let’s look at the Walkway Garden cultivators that bloomed last year, but didn’t bloom this year. I wonder why? Drought? Adapting to pots? Neighboring plants got bigger and blocked sunlight?

Little Cadet 2017

Best Seller 2017

Chama Valley

Fine Time Lucille 8.9

Fol de Rol 2017

Pardon Me 2017

Western Sandstone 2017

Tis the season to check these pots and see if they need dividing. Then, there are the ones that have never bloomed in my yard – ever. I think 1 more year and some may get recycled. It seems only fair to give them another year in the pots to see. They are Happy Happy, Scorpio, Coberg Fright Wig, Navajo Blanket, Sanctuary in the Sky, Fringe Benefit, Carlotta, and Quilt Patch.

I wish I had the energy that I did last year because time is getting shorter. Sometimes I wish camping season and daylily season did not run concurrently. I read my blog from last year, and I was burying pots every spare second. Now, it feels like too much to add dirt to the bottoms of the pots that have settled. And, I do need to dig up a couple in the Southwest garden and put in pots. Dividing is easier in pots, though. I guess it is my year not to bloom. Droughts happen, and sometimes it isn’t about water.

The First Sunday of August

August 6, 2018Leave a comment

It was camping weekend, which is good because I need the stress relief. Work is too busy and I am too exhausted. So, I returned to an encore – Stella de Oro has been out of bloom for 3 weeks and she is back. I will just leave her in the roll call. Our last roll call of 2018. We had 37 in bloom this week. We had 56 last week and I predicted half as many this week. Actually – more like 2/3rds. When you look at all the finales this week (see photos below), I will make the same prediction for next week. That’s about 18 for the week. We don’t have many scapes yet, and the ones mostly only have a bloom or two left. Heirloom Heaven, Indian Sky, Pink and Cream, Dream Catcher, and Purple Corn Dancer have some life left in them. I am hoping Passionate Returns, Stephanie Returns, Ruby Stella and Red Hot Returns all return.

Here Goes Roll Call 7/31-8/5: