Tag: Ned Roberts

Friday the 13th!

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The last time we had a Friday the 13th was in April – the day I left for my annual Southwest Road Trip down the Devil’s Highway all the way to the border of Mexico.  I had 2 sick dogs with me . . . well, not sick, sick – post-op and injured.  It was a good trip even though I named it Southwest Superstitions.  I love my annual road trip just like I love my daylilies.

So, today was a good day in the Garden.  Fifty-four bloomers, so one of our top days so far.  Mother Earth even managed a couple of new blooms.

Classy Lady is one I got on the auction a few years ago.  She is doing better in a pot this year.  I usually only get one or two blooms out of her all year.  Today, it was a trifecta.  She looked so pretty!

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Classy Lady 7.13

The other one is another Ned Roberts spider . . . but without a Southwestern name.  I ordered a bunch of Southwest named daylilies from a small grower and there was an issue with one I ordered, so I picked another one.  However, there were no more spiders to pick from.  This is Raspberry Propeller.

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Raspberry Propeller 7.13

It is sort of interesting that Raspberry Propeller is a sib (from the same pod) as one of my Southwest spiders – Twirling Pinata.  It is interesting that these guys had the same parents but are two different blooms.  Like paternal twins, I guess.  Clearly related, though!

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Twirling Pinata 2017

Tomorrow, I need to move a couple daylilies out of the Walkway Garden into the Border Garden or the Rainbarrel Garden.  The problem with pots is the plants get so much bigger here, so I have an over-crowding (blocks the sun) and so I don’t have many scapes in that area.  I think I will move Blackthorne and Autumn Jewels.  Maybe  I can still coax a bloom out of them . . . not great odds, but not 0, either.

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Walkway Garden 7.13

OK – here goes the list of today’s Friday the 13th bloomers: Comanche Princess, Skinwalker, Navajo Rodeo, Black Ice, Dream Catcher, Aztec Firebird, Zuni Thunderbird, Iktomi, Treasure of the Southwest, Happy Hopi, Shape Shifter, Nosferatu, Cheddar Cheese, Dark Mystery, Red Riddle, Prairie Blue Eyes, Wineberry Candy, Mesa Verde, Heron’s Cove Purple de Oro, The Colorado Kid, Mildred Mitchell, Blue Beat, Thin Man, Passionate Returns, South Seas, Longlesson Show-off, Return a Smile Chorus Line, Early Bird Cardinal, Lacy Doily, Ruby Spider, Stephanie Returns, Catherine Irene, Mini Pearl, Prairie Wildfire, Pick of the Litter, Bela Lugosi, Baja, Pink and Cream, Yellow Punch, Stella de Oro, Black-eyed Susan, Red Hot Returns, Hesperus, Route 66, Ruby Stella, Strutter’s Ball – I think that is it.  I am pretty sure we will have 1 or 2 more new blooms tomorrow.

Popcorn

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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.

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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.

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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.

Kokopelli has Landed!

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Kokopelli has made history as the first daylily bloom of 2018!  In Native American folklore, the Kokopelli turns winter to summer (and visa versa).  Today, Kokopelli brought thunderstorms . . . badly needed thunderstorms to our exceptional drought area.  Chilly, overcast.  When I first went out this AM, it was hot and dry, now it is cool and 60s.  I hope she brings more rain.

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Kokopelli was my first Ned Roberts daylily.  Now, my Southwest garden bulges with them. I have around 66 Roberts cultivators – most with southwestern names in my Southwestern Garden.  I have just over 75 cultivators in the Southwest Garden.  What bonds the is names from the Southwest US.  They live with some big yucca out in that garden, and a Kokopelli sculpture.

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Last year, I had about 15 different cultivators bloom in the Southwest Garden.  Not such a great rate out of 75.  That meant I needed to make changes.  My soil here is heavy clay with roots embedded.  We don’t get much rain, even on a good year.  So, that is when I started looking around and noticing that my potted cultivators did better.  Therefore, I dug up around 60 of the daylilies in the Southwest Garden, put them in better soil in a quick draining container, and buried the container.  Broke a rib and got sciatica in the process.

But, it seems to be paying off because I now have 20 cultivators in scape out there!  It is early in the season so I only have 8 scapes in all my other gardens combined.  Last fall, I had the elm tree that cast shade on the Southwest Garden removed.  I also added a soak hose watering system.  20 in scape by 6/3. . . I can’t believe my eyes.  It is the first time I ever had my first bloom from out there, too.

So, once the elm was a stump, I had to figure out what do with said stump.  I decided on a native garden.  It is raised on one side and slopes down so that the yucca that have been under the tree for years could be part of the new garden.  It has sage, Morman tea, ornamental grass, cactus, and several zeroscape flowers.  Today, I want to share photos of the current bloomers – neighbors to the Southwest Garden.  The new garden is the Hovenweep Garden.

 

 

PS – Next up is Orange Flurry – maybe tomorrow.  Who knows what a cool, rainy day might bring?

 

Just a Painter Passing Through in History

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“If you want to know my secret don’t come runnin’ after me
For I am just a painter passing through in history” – Gordon Lightfoot

“A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What a man can be, he must be” – Abraham Maslow

 

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Painting of Kokopelli by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

And, so it is.  Yesterday, I painted Kokopelli.  One of my early bloomers is now always in bloom in my house.  It settles my nerves.  Lots going on in my life – but I slept like a baby.

I woke up to a pretty bloom from Red Hot Returns.  Nice way to start the day.

 

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Red Hot Returns – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

 

Fall Blooms and Roots

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Time flies . . . it has been a couple of weeks since I posted.  A lot has happened. I am less than two weeks away from my doctorate.  And, I believe I have a full-time job in my future. A couple cultivators are still in bloom, and I have new roots in the ground.  Perhaps returning to school is like planting new roots.  You give them water, soil, sunshine, and fertilizer.  Then, in time they bloom.  Blooms are like jobs – the reward for the TLC given to the roots.

Today’s blooms were Heirloom Heaven:

 

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Heirloom Heaven – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

And, Red Hot Returns (with less thrip damage than before):

 

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Red Hot Returns – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

As promised, here are the Painted Petroglyph roots from a couple weeks ago next to the photo from a few days ago:

Progress toward that 2017 bloom.  Like submitting an assignment . . .  it takes time.

Fall is here and my attention is turning to my winter indoor blooms.  My amaryllis bulbs and poinsettia need to go dark soon.  I got a new mum, Thanksgiving cactus, and designer begonia.  My Gerber Daisy is in bloom, as is my azalea. Oh, and those geraniums.  They tend to be my winter bloomers.   I will probably blog about those some over the winter.

I’m also working on my fall daylily fertilizing program.  My re-bloomers ran out of steam this year, so that is a sign that they need more nutrients.   I have added some great Ned Roberts roots to my Southwest daylily patch – Glen Eyrie, Adios Albuquerque, Twirling Pinata, and Truchas Sunrise.  I got extra fans (as bonuses) of Echo Canyon and Desert Icicle that will thicken up my existing plants.  My Navajo Rodeo roots are booming this time.  And, I think I am already getting my spring daylily order planned.  That paycheck will be great to feed my daylily habit.

Red Hot Returns

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This daylily name reminds me of a politician’s IRS filing.  It was added to the front lawn daylily area because my others are all mid-only bloomers.  I like the red and green combo.  It has a brand new scape, which is cool because Stella dropped hers for now. (PS – I believe this is the last new cultivator to bloom this year unless someone surprises me.)

 

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Red Hot Returns – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

Speaking of Stella, she did show up today.

 

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Stella de Oro – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

I haven’t talked about my daylily helpers.  Meet my dogs, Maizzy and Kachina.  Maizzy is named for my grandkids, Maia and Isaac.  And, Kachina was named Tina in the shelter.  I had just planted Kachina Firecracker and Kachina Dancer when I got her – so her name was changed to Kachina.  Named for a doll and a daylily. She lives up to both names.

 

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Daylily Dogs – Maizzy and Kachina (in that order)

 

So, it is back to the hunt, for me.  And, this time it isn’t Ned Roberts daylilies.  Well, not exclusively, anyway.

A Little Piece of Heaven in my Yard

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Today, Heirloom Heaven bloomed for the first time.  This little one was one of my first root plantings last year.

 

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Heirloom Heaven – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

It is a miniature, at least this first bloom cycle.  Here it is with my petite finger:

 

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Heirloom Heaven with my finger for proportion

 

Other blooms were my orange/yellow combos.  Frans Hals:

 

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Frans Hals – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

And, Orange Flurry:

 

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Orange Flurry – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

Oh, and Stella, of course:

 

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

 

Today also brought the first of a couple fall plantings.  I got one called Painted Petroglyph on fall sale at Shady Rest Gardens.  It is not a Robert’s cultivator, but it still belongs in my Southwest garden.  It is beautiful.  Live long and prosper little one.  I also replaced Navajo Rodeo – love the fall sales!  I added a few more fans of Electric Lizard, as mine are still anemic.

I didn’t order much this fall, but the daylilies keep me going.  I am getting two new Roberts blooms, too.  Twirling Pinata and Glen Eyrie.  My daughter lives in Colorado Springs, so I couldn’t resist the second one. (Many of the Roberts cultivators were hybridized right there!)  I love fall plantings because, by spring they act like they have been here forever!  I think I will hit 80 cultivators that bloomed this summer.  That’s just over 50%.  Keep on mulching!

Oh, and keep on painting.  I finally finished Chief Four Fingers in the wee hours.

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Prepping the Daylily Beds is a Bunch of BS!

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So, first there are the first fans of spring.  Actually, other than my garlic and spring bulbs, one of the very first signs of spring in my yard.  Then, there come the scapes followed by peak bloom season.  And, then the lovely late bloomers signal time to start preparing for another cycle.  I think of the Native Americans and their focus on the changing seasons.

I did have bloomers this weekend.  So, I will show those first, followed by the tale of BS in my garden.

Tiger Kitten only produced two buds.  This was a one fan root last summer. It’s making progress.  Can’t wait for next year!

 

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Tiger Kitten – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

Stella, of course, was here with me all weekend, in both yellow and gold.

 

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

 

 

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

 

And, Orange Flurry lit up my smaller zeriscape garden in the rocks.

 

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Orange Flurry – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

So, here is my Ned Roberts Southwest spider garden that I put in this spring.  The first two pictures are before.  It is of note on the second photo that the earth no longer comes up to the top of the bricks.  PS – I would have done a higher raised bed, but the yuccas won.

 

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Ned Roberts Southwest spider patch (before) – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

 

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Note the level of the soil and mulch within the bricks.

 

Here is the after picture.  Probably no different to most people.  The difference is that the earth is now back up to the top of the brick.  Because daylilies are funny about planting depth, this meant raising the grade of the garden by first loosening up each daylily, putting the growing medium underneath, and then surrounding each cultivator with the medium.  It reminds me of the tale of raising Galveston Island several feet after the 1900 Great Storm.  They did it one structure at a time, too. It took all afternoon yesterday.

 

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Southwest lily patch (after) – a lot of work for something that looks pretty much the same.  Just ask the daylilies, though, it has been a weekend of prep for a new season.

 

Today, I filled the gaps with the remaining medium because the daylilies were all in mounds after being raised.  Sounds easy enough, except I was mixing up a concoction of steer manure, compost, peat moss, water crystals, soil acidifier, and time release fertilizer.  Oh, and given that I tromp around pretty hard with my camera, I also added some little stepping stones so the soil could stay fluffy.   I think my motivation is not only the anticipation of the blooms (a type of savoring), but also the number of little gardens that I see on my dog walks that have gone untended.  I think how cool the initial intention was . . . . but it is long gone.   This Colorado Plateau is a different ecosystem than the South.

I read yesterday that with plenty of water, amendments, and the right amount of fertilizer you can get 2-3 x as many blooms.  Might as well give it a shot.  For tomorrow, we will talk about grass weeds vs daylily sprouts.  Maybe someone out there can help me with that issue!!!

 

My Last Ned Roberts Spider :-(

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Skinwalker adorned my yard with its last bloom for 2016.  My Ned Roberts and Southwestern named daylily garden is off to a good start.  I had 10 blooms out of that garden this year.  There are 50 or so cultivators out there.  More on that in a minute.

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Other late bloomers were Apache Uprising.  I think I have one more bud to go.

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And, Yella Stella.  She has a brand new scape, so I am still hopeful to make it to freeze. Plus, Red Hot Returns (sounds like a political statement to me) and Heirloom Heaven have still not bloomed.  Heirloom Heaven is a ways off, too, from the scape size.  September?

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OK, so back to my Ned Roberts garden.  I carefully built it over spring break, moving buckets of rocks and pebbles that had been there for decades.  Then, I dug down deeper, a few inches down into the clay soil.  And, I added the brick border.   I then filled it with good soil and water crystals.  Then, I planted the daylilies.

Now, the earth has settled and the roots are too close to the clay for best production, me thinks.  Tomorrow, I gently lift each cultivator up, hopefully without totally dislodging roots, and I fill in with compost, manure, peat, and more good dirt.  Back up to the top of the bricks.  And, then re-mulch it.  Optimistically, that boosts the year two bloom.  I think garden spaces take a while to be fertile.  It took my garlic patch a few seasons.  Good dirt rocks!

 

Tigers, Skinwalkers, Apaches, and Princes. Oh My!

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Yesterday was my first no bloom day since early June.  Today brought several blooms, including my very first Tiger Kitten.

 

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Tiger Kitten – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

And, after a few weeks of deformed Skinwalkers, today comes a picture perfect bloom.  I think the early blooms were premature.  What a great Ned Roberts bloom!

 

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Skinwalker – Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

Apache Uprising made a huge show with three blooms.

 

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Apache Uprising – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

And, how awesome it is to see my last two Royal Palace Princes in full bloom.

 

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Royal Palace Prince – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

Stella also showed up to meet this crowd in the garden – both my golden and yella Stella.

 

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Yella Stella – Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

 

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Golden Stella – Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

And, calm little Orange Flurry was present in the background.

 

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Orange Stella – Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

That leaves only two unbloomed cultivators . . .  Heirloom Heaven and Red Hot Returns.  However, that is not bad for mid-August.  And, nine total have unbloomed buds.  Will I make it until freeze?

This weekend, I start the work of fall mulching.  I’m learning more about promoting my rebloomers.  And, so more improvements in store for the future.