Last Sunday in July

July 30, 2018Leave a comment

Wow – It will be August next weekend. The daylily peak has come and gone. The cultivators were in the teens today . . . a massive drop off from 2-3 weeks ago. It is funny how the first 3 weeks of June are slow progress, then it explodes, then it goes to just a few here and there for months.

Today, we had one new cultivator. Heirloom Heaven bloomed for the first time in 2018. She is an adorable late-blooming mini. She is my last unbloomed scape on a cultivator that hasn’t bloomed yet. This could be it. It seems like I usually get some August scapes . . . not many, but a handful. I don’t know with this drought, though.

Heirloom Heaven 7.29

And, I had a rude awakening last night – because Mount Echo Sunrise doesn’t look anything like Mount Echo Sunrise. I looked at her tag, and she has two. The other one says Moon over Chimayo . . . and she looks like that one. So, I assume . . .

Moon over Chimayo 7.27

Finales:

Lullabye Baby 7.29

Roll Call 7/23-29:

Adios Albuquerque 7.26

Anasazi 7.27

Apache Uprising 7.25

Aztec Firebird 7.27

Baja 7.25

Bela Lugosi 7.24

Blue Beat 7.25

Bluegrass Music 7.24

Bold Tiger 7.23

Cheddar Cheese 7.24

Cherokee Star 7.28

Chorus Line 7.26

Classy Lady 7.27

Comanche Princess 7.28

Dream Catcher (with Navajo Curls) 7.27

El Desperado 7.24

Fox Ears 7.25

Heron’s Cove 7.27

Hesperus 7.25

Indian Love Call 7.24

Indian Sky 7.24

Lady Fingers 7.25

Lime Frost 7.26

Longlesson Show-off 7.23

Marque Moon 7.24

Mildred Mitchell 7.23

Mini Pearl 7.29

Navajo Curls 7.24

Navajo Rodeo 7.23

Nearly Wild 7.28

Nosferatu 7.26

Orange Vols 7.24

Passionate Returns 7.29

Pick of the Litter 7.23

Pink and Cream 7.29

Pizza Crust 7.28

Prairie Blue Eyes 7.28

Prelude to Love 7.25

Purple Corn Dancer 7.26

Purple de Oro 7.24

Purple Moonrise 7.27

Purple Thunderbird 7.26

Raspberry Propeller 7.28

Rosie’s Red 7.23

Route 66 7.26

Royal Palace Prince 7.27

Ruby Stella 7.28

South Seas 7.27

Stephanie Returns 7.23

Tiger Kitten 7.27

Twirling Pinata 7.24

Yellow Punch 7.26

56 for the week . . . that is all! I bet we are down to half of that by next week.

Decrescendo!

July 24, 2018Leave a comment

It was a busy day for a Monday after the peak. 35 cultivators blooming today . . . that is a lot. Last year, I had 18 in bloom this day. In 2015, the number was 8. Maybe I was camping in 2016. Anyway, today we hit a total of 123 cultivators for the year – about 70% bloom rate. I only have a couple with scapes that have not bloomed . . . I don’t know if we will get to 75%. But was are sure ahead of 48% last year.

So – for today – two new babies. A first-ever bloom is Navajo Curls. I got her a couple years ago and she didn’t come back last spring. She was replaced in the fall. Worth it! She is another Ned Roberts spider – can you tell?

Navajo Curls 7.23

And, my old favorite brilliant orange daylily – Orange Vols – opened today. I put her in 6 years ago when I xeriscaped parts of my yard. I love to paint her!

Orange Vols 7.23

Encores – Our first rebloom of the season! Indian Love Call came back for seconds.

Indian Love Call 7.23

Finales – Our last blooms today are below (unless they do encores). When it is the last Ruby Spider, you know the peak is waning. I’m kinda ready for those 10 or fewer blooms a day, honestly!

Ruby Spider 7.23

Stephanie Returns 7.23

Longlesson Show-off 7.23

Navajo Rodeo 7.23

Upward Spirals

August 11, 2017Leave a comment

The daylily garden is my happy place. Gardening brings a feeling of flow – or a loss of self. And, with daylilies, my optimism, curiosity, creativity, and appreciation of nature strengths kick in, bringing a sense of joy.

And, today must have been extra nice because I managed to take 30 pictures with only 4 cultivators in bloom. Well, and I snuck in a couple shots of my mini sunflowers, Mexican daylilies (shellflowers), and my confused amaryllis (yes, it is about to bloom in my yard).

It was a nice daylily day, though, despite the small number in bloom. First of all, Western Sandstone bloomed for the first time ever in my yard. This one was ordered the first year I was doing roots . . . 2014? And, so it is a gardener’s triumph! A pretty one, too. (pictured below)

So, back to the happy place. There is some good science that says we need 3 positives for every negative (emotion/event) to flourish. Or, somewhere around that number. When we flourish, we broaden and build resources. A month or two ago, I was feeling weighed down in some stuff that was creating an amazing negative spiral out of life. Having the daylilies to focus on is hugely therapeutic. No wonder the longest lived populations all garden!!! No wonder we call it “flourishing.”

Tomorrow, maybe Pizza Crust will bring a smile. Or, my silly amaryllis 🙂

Quiet

August 9, 2017August 9, 2017Leave a comment

Today was quiet in the yard. Four blooms. Cool, rainy. Shifting seasons in the air. It is good to see the new growth on the daylilies I put in pots a couple of weeks ago. There is no doubt they look healthier.

I walked by Fairy Tale Pink and saw her shrinking fans under those invasive blue bells. I stopped to put her in a pot before the dog walk. I’m out of potting soil, again. More, tomorrow.

I sincerely hope I never have to put this many buried pots in any place ever again. The veggie garden was the worse. The Southwestern garden is more of a challenge than the front. At least as far as big roots. The invasive blue bells are in all the roots out front. A woman at the farmer’s market last weekend says they probably have something in their roots that inhibits the growth of other plants. I have to do a procedure where I paint the weeds that appear in the pots with herbicide. After all the pots are in the ground, that is. I hope the bloom next year is worth it! Oh, life on the Colorado Plateau!

Drizzle

July 29, 2017July 29, 2017Leave a comment

It’s Friday! So, after work, I dashed out to continue the daylily potting project. Ran out of potting soil after the first two, so ran to Home Depot. Came home and was working on another two when the rain started. It is a nice rain . . . drizzle, but enough to cool things off and wet the garden.

No new faces today. Tiger Kitten lost his only bud 😦 For tomorrow, I think maybe Nearly Wild might bloom. At any rate, I decided to make a collage like I did every day last year during the peak. I don’t have enough time do to that this year, but wanted something to show for the last of the big bloom days of July.

The rain on Wednesday bought mushrooms to my Southwest garden . . . guessing the mushroom compost come to life. Weird, in the desert.

Tomorrow, the journey continues. I wanted to be camping, but decided to plan 3 camping trips for August this weekend AND STICK TO IT!!!! But, for now, I am making good progress on the daylily potting. And, not camping in the rain. I have so much to do before freeze and Amazon is slow with my second order of pots. Oh, well, like the daylily, all we really have is this moment.

The Icon of Orange

July 21, 2017Leave a comment

Today, it was almost rainy. There was thunder and clouds . . . and a few drops of rain. It was cooler, and I began thinking about fall. I felt a little sad knowing that I was cutting off spent scapes much more quickly than new ones are going up. Having a new daylily every day is probably not going to be with us long. The blog will fade into the background as I start to do the elbow-grease stuff to make next year more successful.

At any rate, Orange Vols showed up for the first time today. I absolutely love these colors. If Ruby Spider is the icon of red blooms, Orange Vols is the icon of orange. I have painted this one a few times!

Speaking of painting, today I started to think about how I would be painting some of these this winter. Then, I thought of the seasons and my favorite things about each. Spring is desert hikes and my annual Southwest road trip. Summer is camping and . . . daylilies (of course). Fall is the colors and harvest. Winter is painting. Daylilies, of course.

Tomorrow, perhaps Best Seller’s only other bud. I hope it survives. And, well we will see what the rain brings.

Morning Has Broken

August 4, 2016Leave a comment

Today was an early day in the garden before a hike with my family. I love having my daughter and grandkids in Colorado so I can see them every couple of months. Grandkids are the best blooms of all.

The morning brought two very first blooms to my yard. The first is Nona’s Garnet Spider. Sadly, Nona only produced one viable bud year. (So far – keep hoping!) She was another small root planted last fall. I really like her. I hope Nona brings more buds next trip.

Nona’s Garnet Spider – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

Apache Uprising was also added late fall and was pretty small. I added a couple of intentional late bloomers. It’s a pretty flower.

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

It was also a day of hiking and swimming, so I am beat. But it is making me smile to have 13 blooms on an August day. My dream is May – October. This year started early June. Let’s see where it ends. (71 blooms so far – so I made my 50% goal.) I have noticed Heirloom Heaven with brand new scapes forming. Plus Tiger Kitten and Frans Hals are growing scapes. I may hit 74. And, who knows, I may have another scape or two join the show.

From L to R: Top Row – Lime Frost, Fine Time Lucille, Nona’s Garnet Spider. Row Two – Royal Palace Prince, Purple de Oro, Marque Moon, Stella de Oro, Orange Vols. Bottom Row – Apache Uprising, El Desperado, Pizza Crust.

Like a Box of Chocolates!

August 2, 2016August 2, 2016Leave a comment

So, today I applied for two more jobs and tomorrow my family comes. After that, it is some catch-up work with school. I can’t believe I am done in 6 weeks – I’ll have my Doctorate in Nursing Practice! It’s wonderful and frightening. The downside of online school is that it can be isolating. It seems especially pronounced now that we are almost done.

So, I promise myself one trip away from the dogs every couple of days. It gets me out with real humans and no leashes. Now, I love my dogs but I also enjoy feeling human. So, today I visited a local nursery that is having a plant sale. Four dollar daylilies – cool. I’ve decided to put Stellas in a couple more of my containers so they have season long bloomers. It may be good motivation to water them more – and get more blooms from the more specialty plants.

So, welcome to the yard Orange Flurry (in bloom today with scapes and buds):

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

And, another couple of Stellas. I thought it might be interesting to show the ones I got over the weekend with the new one. The new one is definitely more orange tone.

The other new ones have buds and scapes, but not in bloom today . . . so we wait. And one is a mystery label one, so like Forest Gump said . . .

Other blooms are Pizza Crust:

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

Lime Frost:

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

Marque Moon:

Marque Moon – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

Prelude to Love:

Prelude to Love – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

Orange Vols:

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

El Desperado:

El Desperado – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

Royal Palace Prince:

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

With any luck, I’ll have blooms until Jack Frost shows. Here is to hoping I have a job by then, too! And, by next spring there will be more flourishing at my home than ever!

Return a Smile :-)

July 29, 2016July 29, 2016Leave a comment

Today, no new blooms. I am impressed, however, that Return a Smile returned. It’s the one I divided into the front garden last year. It has never rebloomed in the container. That is cool. The old gal has grit.

Return a Smile: Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

In my positive psychology course, we are talking about how we tend to mimic the faces of those who we make eye-to-eye contact with. Smiling does usually get returned. And, they are calling this a form of love. So, I will credit my daylily for reminding me of that lesson today.

I decided to update my collage of Roberts daylilies that bloomed this year, as I think Ghost Ranch may be the last. I am still hopeful for late bloomers, but no scapes yet. This can always be updated. If I get 80% next year, It will be 40 or so cultivators.

Ned Roberts Spiders as of 7/29/2016 L to R: Top Row – Winds of Love, Black Ice, Aztec Firebird, Chief Four Fingers, Desert Icicle. Center: Skinwalker. Bottom Row: Ghost Ranch, Kokopelli, Dream Catcher, Zuni Thunderbird, Dream Keeper.

And, here is the collage of today’s blooms. Gratitude . . . Love, joy, and gratitude. A garden of positive emotion.

7/29/16 L to R: Top Row: Fine Time Lucille, Lullaby Baby, Dream Catcher, Baja, Return a Smile. Bottom Row: Orange Vols, El Desperado, Ghost Ranch, Marque Moon, Prelude to Love.

The Fruit Doesn’t Fall that Far from the Daylily

July 26, 2016Leave a comment

Today, I got the coolest bouquet from Mother Nature. And, while I am a little sorry to be cutting so many finished scapes, I welcome some great fall bloomers. Today, a favorite that joined my yard last year – El Desperado.

I bought this one last year because it still had unbloomed scapes when I walked through the nursery one Sunday. I wasn’t sure where to put it, so I potted it and put it in the center of the yucca garden. That was the beginning of my idea to make a southwestern garden out of that space. I love the yucca, but the space needed more color, more inspiration. And, from there I got into Ned Robert’s blooms.

El Desperado – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

I obviously love daylilies. But, I don’t know if I could ever be a hybridizer. I do, however, sometimes looking at the genetic similarities of the blooms. And, El Desperado is the parent to another bloom that showed up today, Autumn Jewels.

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

It doesn’t take much imagination to see the genetics at work. So, for fun, I looked up the other parent, Calico Jack, and found this picture. What do you think, does baby look like its parents?

Calico Jack – Google Image

The other eye-catching blooms in my yard today where Primal Scream (amidst the Potentilla).

Primal Scream – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

And, Zuni Thunderbird. Break out the paint brush. The buds are getting used up . . . one left?

Zuni Thunderbird – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

So, here is the collage. I’m at 13 today. Without the additions of last fall and this spring, I believe I would be at two. I can live with that. Viva La Daylilies!

L to R: Top Row – Marque Moon, Soco Gap, Isaac. Second Row – Prelude to Love, El Desperado, Primal Scream, Autumn Jewels, Zuni Thunderbird. Bottom Row – Skinwalker, Mini Pearl, Orange Vols, Melon Balls, Lime Frost.

Colorado Kid Daylilies

A Blog About My Western Colorado Daylily Adventure

Tag: Orange Vols