Tag: Oz’s Cowardly Lion

Better Late Than Never: 2025 Daylily Blooms and a Dry Spring Preview

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Spring is in the air on the Colorado Plateau. Not just any spring. A dry spring with little rain and record highs in March. So, IDK yet what this means for the bloom rate. Drought years are never predictable but usually it is an early peak with fewer cultivators blooming and fewer blooms.

I am here today to finish up last year’s blog. I seriously dropped the ball because I took on a volunteer community job in the middle of bloom season and camping season. The blog got put at the bottom of this retired nurse-midwifes triage list.

It looks like my last real blog was July 19th, 2025. Let’s see what bloomed later last year.

Adios Albuquerque 7/29-8/20
Aztec Firebird 7/19-7/30
Cowardly Lion of OZ – 7/28-7/29
Cripple Creek 8/8-8/14
Dancing Maiden 7.28-8/9
Desert Icicle 8/1-8/10
Dream Catcher – 7/28-7/29
Frans Hals 7/28-8/7
Kachina Firecracker 7/28-8/5
Navajo Curls – 8/1-8/5
Purple Thunderbird 8/2-8/21
Shape Shifter 7/19-8/17
Spirit of the Morning – 8/1-8/12
Western Sandstone – 7/20-7/28

For the 2026 line-up, those daylilies are high because we were hot in March, but we haven’t had a hell of a lot of rain to support them. It is at the stage now where pots need to be weeded, irrigation schedules need to be regular, and old leaves need to be removed from the garden. It’s time I put down the computer and get busy in the yard!

Since I know I have a lot of daylily lovers who pull up this page, I thought I would mention that I have some hand-painted terra cotta pots that are ideal for small succulents and houseplants. They are available through my Etsy shop, and I will put the photos with listing links below. I started painting these because I got so depressed after daylily season ended. I decided I could still look at daylily blooms every day!

Ruby Spider 6 in pot
Cripple Creek daylily 4.75-inch pot
Select tiny pots (2.5 inch) with Route 66, Cheddar Cheese, Primal Scream and Nosferatu

Later this summer, I will be bringing back my daylily coasters. These are hand-painted from my own photos. I use upcycled tiles that are heat sealed so you have a daylily for your coffee (or whatever you drink) every day. I will also have my signed prints from my daylily paintings. The tiles and prints will feature my southwestern-named daylilies, specifically. Which one do you think I should start with?

Chief Four Fingers Painted Tile

I will be warming up the blog as those daylilies grow – so please subscribe to follow my high desert daylilies through the season.

Keep on flourishing!

Visit my business website: Art from the Hartt

My Experience Online Daylily Shopping at Shady Rest Gardens

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Happy Trails, Shady Rest Daylily Nursery

Last week, I got news that my favorite online daylily grower was closing. I absolutely adore Doris at Shady Rest Gardens and I am still adapting to the idea that this summer is her last ever sale. She and her husband are on to the next chapter, as I was a couple years ago. I knew I had to be one of her last customers and order something, despite my pots being pretty full currently. So, last night she posted the sale daylilies for this fall. It was like midnight-thirty and I was shopping for daylilies from my couch.

Comanche Princess in bloom today came from Shady Rest

How did I get started shopping for daylilies online? It was 2015 when I returned to school for my doctorate and somehow daylilies became my healthy escape from studies (I loved my program but needed stress management breaks). I had a few daylilies around the yard for years and found them pretty hardy here, but they weren’t really a hobby until I went back to school at age 60.

Online Doctorates and Daylilies

Before becoming a serious hobbyist, I picked up a daylily or two at the local nursery here and there. I don’t remember what spurred me to try online, but I did. I mean, if you can get a doctorate online then why not a daylily? It was a lesson that bare roots are not the same as blooming plants and I had to be patient. But the varieties were endless and they were less expensive. Because of my love of the Southwest US, I was especially attracted to the ones with names that were also Southwestern. That helped me hone in on my favorite hybridizer – Ned Roberts. He lived in the Southwest and his daylily names showed it.

Ruby Spider is originally from a local nursery and in bloom today.

It was a web search for his daylilies that led me to Doris and Shady Rest. It was like striking gold – she had so many of his daylilies for sale. Way more than I could afford. So, every year, I added a few. Now I have 74 Ned Roberts registered daylilies and a grand total of 198 different daylilies. They aren’t all from Shady Rest, but I loved getting my packages from her and they were a substantial contribution. More than a grower, Doris became my garden mentor. Fortunately, we are still friends on social media, but I will miss those packages.

What is your favorite place to shop for daylilies???

Prairie Wildfire originally came from a local nursery and is in bloom today.

So, What Daylilies Did I Choose?

Last night, I decided on one Ned Roberts daylily called Green Warrior and two for my Oz collection – If Only I Had A Brain and Oz’s Cowardly Lion. I had Green Warrior before but lost it to spring freeze-thaw before it ever bloomed. (Fall is my favorite time to plant bare roots here because then they will usually bloom the following season, but freeze-thaw is problematic before they get established.) If Only I Had A Brain reminds me of Dr Doom a little. And Oz’s Cowardly Lion has a similarity to Chaco Canyon. They arrive in August. (Photos from garden.org)

Green Warrior
If Only I Had A Brain
Oz’s Cowardly Lion

Aloha Mauna Loa

Mauna Loa daylily – a little beat up from recent thunderstorms.

Today’s only first bloom for the season was Mauna Loa. This is a different Roberts hybridizer than Ned but a luscious neon orange color in the yard.

Until the Last Daylily Blooms Sale on Etsy

Speaking of my beautiful Ned Robert’s spider daylily collection with Southwestern names – this original wood panel painting of Skinwalker is on sale until my last daylily blooms in 2024. The original wood panel is only $26.25 during the sale. And, I have signed prints of the painting that are only $9 with free shipping. If you miss daylilies in the winter, then now is the time to hang one on the wall! Click here or on the photo below to go to listing.

Skinwalker daylily – original painting or signed print