The Stages of Daylily Obsession

August 25, 2017Leave a comment

Today, I got a package with daylily roots from one of my favorite places –Shady Rest Gardens. Well, Doris always sends huge fans . . . and she included some extra fans of two that I ordered. Two of the ones I ordered were to thicken up some of mine that shrunk in the Southwestern garden. So, it becomes too much daylily for the pots. I divided both the new ones into two and put the existing small ones with the smaller division of the new ones.

Pink and Cream

So, now I need to make room in the front or side yard for the extras. I am giving away a couple that I have doubles of to make room. And, so it begins . . . which to keep and which to give away? Is variety better than focusing on favorites? I have a feeling this problem could get worse before it gets better. In a way, though, it is nice because you can see how the same cultivator behaves in different conditions in your yard.

Yellow Punch

So, I decided to come up with some stages of daylily obsession:

You consider daylilies the perfect perennial enough that you favor them when you pick out nursery plants for your garden.
You start noticing more little things about the daylilies you pick . . . like size, shape, and name.
You decide to have daylilies as the dominant plant in at least one garden.
You discover that roots are a cheaper way to fill the space, with more selection.
You discover the auctions and find several reputable daylily root nurseries.
You start to favor some type of bloom or hybridizer. In my case, it was the Southwestern names of the Ned Robert’s cultivators that caught my eye.
You realize there are billions and billions of the type you want . . . you start collecting. You have to make fairly major garden revisions to host so many.
A year or two later, you have all the ones you want. They need to be divided and find new homes. It seems weird to have too many.
(I am not here yet) You become a hybridizer and/or farm them to sell.

Coral Taco

Oh, it is my mom’s 100th birthday today. I wish she could be here to see the Easter Lily Cactus blooms today. Like daylilies, they only last one day. I love all their biological features.

Easter Lily Cactus

Shift Happens

August 24, 2017August 24, 2017Leave a comment

I am so excited to be ALMOST done with the buried daylily pots. I have 48 done (in the Southwestern garden), 4 to go. Well, if you don’t count the 20+ that I am not potting this year. I have to tell you that potting the front garden and potting the Southwest garden are day and night different. One is an easy dig, pull weeds out, put in a pot, and easy dig to replace the pot. The Southwestern garden is hard dig with root clippers, shovel, trowel. I feel like a surgeon doing open heart surgery of something! Seriously. I dig enough heavy clay dirt and roots out of each hole to nearly fill one of the big Home Depot buckets (times 48). Then, I bag it and have to dispose of it when done. Fitting in nursery pots is harder than decorative pots because they are not tapered. My carpal tunnel gets so crazy it feels like I am getting shocked.

I am hoping to see new growth on the transplants soon. It seems a bit slow. I will fertilize once I finish the last 4 pots. This weekend . . . finished. This has been the biggest garden project of my life, especially if you count the veggie garden.

Anyway, I had four cool visitors today.

Anasazi had a bit of a double bloom.

Heirloom Heaven bloomed her last bloom of 2017.

Passionate Returns continues to be awesome. I honestly had no idea I would like these blooms so much! Love the shape and color.

And, good old Pink and Cream, my big box re-bloomer still putting out new scapes.

The kids have returned to the bus stop on my running route. Soon, there will be daylily-less days. I still hope to have a few through the first freeze. We are only 2-3 weeks away from putting the Amaryllis and Poinsettias into hibernation for winter bloom. When the spring comes again, we will see if the pots really made a difference. Shift Happens.

It’s Late

August 21, 2017August 21, 2017Leave a comment

Camping weekend, but still time for an afternoon of fun putting daylilies in underground pots. My carpal tunnel is acting up from the trowel, my back hurts from the shovel. So, I switch back and forth. Five more moved. I have 7 more pots – so that is all I am doing this fall. I should be done by next weekend. In fact, the whole fall daylily thing should be wrapping up soon. I prefer the blooms to the digging. And, having more time to savor camping. 🙂

Here are a few from the last few days.

Coral Taco, Heirloom Heaven, Pink and Cream, Passionate Returns, Indian Sky

And – Three weeks after I discovered the scape, Anasazi is looking ready to bloom. Now, how cool if a flower with that name blooms on the eclipse day? I need to sleep first!

Daylily Legacy

August 18, 2017August 18, 2017Leave a comment

Perhaps it is all the digging and paying for pots for almost every daylily in my yard, but for the first time I feel like I have too many daylilies. I never thought this day would come. I even think the yard looks a bit cluttered with pots now that there are pots buried in the flower beds. I have an idea for a daylily “shelf” in the front yard to break it up a bit. Next year.

I have wondered what I will do when my favorites from the Southwest garden need to be divided – will I give away some of my others to make room for more than one in my yard? I have so many ones that were free gifts . . . now they seem like part of my summer, so I feel bonded. I honestly am overwhelmed. Next year, I hope to be digging more flowers not more dirt.

So, I ordered one more today . . . and, honestly, it is almost nauseating to me to be buying more cultivators now. But, if I have any legacy in the world of daylily hybridizers, it is that I suggested a name and someone ran with it! It was back when the “Show me your stethoscope” deal was happening. I suggested “Nurse’s Stethoscope”. One of the hybridizers was a medical professional . . . and she liked it. It is a beautiful daylily, and I paid more than I normally do for a plant. I have no idea where I will put it, either. Oh, boy, another pot! But, you know, it also seems like I should have it in my collection. And, that is it . . . the inn is full. I will be building the “shelf” come spring!

Under the Surface

August 16, 2017Leave a comment

Today brought a good variety of color. From the yellow-pink blooms of Pizza Crust and Pink & Cream to the deep red of Cherokee Star and Heirloom Heaven. In the middle was pretty Indian Sky.

I am keeping a close eye on the Southwest garden since the replantings. Some yellow leaves here and there. Overall, they are in much better shape despite looking a bit frazzled.

It makes me think of our humanity. Sometimes everything can look pretty perfect on the surface. The garden had mulch and few weeds. The sprinkler ran regularly. And, the lilies looked pretty much OK. But, several were too small and one died. The bloom rate was poor and the blooms looked stunted. I wondered about the sunlight, mostly. Something was off, but the thought of fixing what lay under the surface was something I wanted to deny.

It was odd to deny it . . . I knew what was underneath. Somehow, I hoped top soil would be enough to get the lilies started. I mean, maybe they could do OK in the clay . . . that is what it says on the internet. Seriously, this Colorado Plateau clay is like an abusive, addictive relationship. Not only does it not provide nutrition, it is like cement. I have never seen it get damp more than a couple inches below the surface. The roots that do penetrate are stuck forever, unable to move yet starving for a better existence.

Diving under the surface and fixing the real problem is hard, hard work. And, I am sure there is more of it ahead in this adventure. I could continue to ignore it . . . normalize it. You know, just keep watering harder and hope somehow it corrects itself. But, then it comes time to stop the cycle and do something different. I hope it will pay off and that everything flourishes and blooms. Then, it will be worth it for daylily generations to come.

Just A Flower I Can Help Along

August 14, 2017Leave a comment

Today was the day I finally got the Southwestern Garden mostly redone. What a lot of work . . . seriously, my back is DONE digging for a bit. I thought it might be fun to show a couple photos. So, this side is the one I have been working on. All but a handful of daylilies now rests within a nursery pot that is buried under ground. These ones have been trimmed so that they can focus on some new roots before freeze.

And, this is the other side, where the daylilies are blooming size. Much happier than the other side. There used to be a pine tree out there, then a new sewer where I think they used a sandier fill dirt on the side with the happier daylilies. Perhaps water, too. Today, I got my soak hose system in. I am pretty jazzed. I think it will prove to be the best system I have ever had. It is amazing how the clay soil is always hard and dry, no matter what.

So, today I had some great blooms. I barely had time to notice them, but they did remind me that the backbreaking work will pay off in blooms (I hope). (In order – Featured photo is Heirloom Heaven; Pictured first below is Passionate Returns, then Western Sandstone, Pink and Cream and Pardon Me.

I also divided daylilies for friends. That was kind of fun, actually. Beats digging holes in adobe clay soil with roots. I could make a good mud house with that stuff, though. I went through 8 big bags of soil this weekend. Crazy!

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

August 13, 2017August 13, 2017Leave a comment

Not many daylilies – Just Stella and her offspring, Pink and Cream. But, what did catch my eye this AM was that my Amaryllis bloomed . . . mostly. This guy has been out since it bloomed last Christmas, moved to the garden in May. So, why it decided to bloom, who knows?

Amaryllis and orchids are the winter blooming houseplants that bring to mind my daylilies. Fall brings a longing to start dreaming of their blooms. I wonder if I let this one rest (as usual) for 6 weeks if it will get another bloom? We will see, I guess.

I did a 12-hour shift with my shovel. This was less about “flow” and more about grit. I have 6 more that I want to do tomorrow before I fix-up the soak hose. I have about 10-12 more to do total. Hopefully, this fall.

Digging up the garden made me a bit sad for the daylilies. They are pretty shallow-rooted. Some are too small . . . and that seems to predict lots of roots underneath. Or, visa versa. It takes forever because of the clay, roots, and tight spaces. I decided that the daylilies would either get better, stay the same, or get worse. Worse would be crown rot or more shrinkage. The same is the same. Better would have two possible management plans. The first would be to leave them in the containers and divide often. The second would be to see how they do without containers now that they have deeper basements. Or I could get decorative containers, too. It is like a research study. Not so much random assignment . . . but half the garden gets the intervention. Need to give it time.

Meanwhile, I am beat. Six more tomorrow, then a break from digging for a bit. Other than making a few divisons for friends . . . or starting that. I figure one more full weekend of daylily-ville work. I can’t wait to be a real person, again!

Peace in the Garden

August 10, 2017August 10, 2017Leave a comment

The garden was cool this AM when I got up to look what was in bloom. I needed a fleece to stay comfortable. The scattered blooms took forever to open. Stella has returned, after 2 months of rest. I got Stellas last year so that I would have blooms all summer, and it has been disappointing. I probably need to divide more often.

I like my big box Pink and Cream that has been in bloom much more frequently and is prettier – a nice offspring. It will need to be divided in the spring, for sure!

And, fun with flower photos is turning into dances with shovels. Today, 8 more put in some sort of pot. The Southwest garden is hard work . . . clay and tree roots. And, odd shaped working space for digging holes. So many left to go. I have the worst corner done now. That’s a bit of progress. Every time I think I have foiled my desert garden, I end up re-doing it a couple years later. Because, when you add water and fertilizer, the natives want first dibs!

Somehow, this Gordon Lightfoot song has been going through my head all day:

There’s peace in the garden
There’s peace in the air
Peace in the sound of the river
There’s peace in the meadow
The sun shines like gold
And if she were with me
There’d be peace in my soul

Tomorrow, maybe I’ll talk about the upward spirals from time with my daylilies. I may have my first Western Sandstone tomorrow!

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!

They’re Back!

July 28, 2017Leave a comment

OK, so I said I would try to focus on new blooms for this blog . . . and that works during peak. As that falls off, the focus will need to shift in order to keep the blog alive through the summer and early fall. There are tons of possibilities . . . colors, shapes, etc.

For tonight, the focus in these two awesome rebloomers – Pink & Cream and Yellow Punch. I rarely buy Big Box daylilies, but I was in the mood for more color in early June, and these added some spice to the yellow trumpets. And, so they finished but now they are back.

They are offspring of Stella de Oro, but I like them a lot better. They were marketed as better rebloomers than Stella, and this year in my yard that is 100% true. Maybe these two will be my last daylilies of the year. Oh, I have younger scapes on a few . . . Pizza Crust, Western Sandstone, Nearly Wild, Heirloom Heaven. But, these could keep coming back. Until today, the last bloom for Pink and Cream was late June. And, yea, they live in pots.

Colorado Kid Daylilies

A Blog About My Western Colorado Daylily Adventure

Tag: Pink and Cream