True Colors Shining Through

June 11, 2021Leave a comment

Too much going on in life to focus on anything too long. I get the watering done daily, though. Blogging comes second, but I made time today because . . . (drum roll) – I have my first Ned Roberts Spiders in bloom today. The yellow trumpets have company – true colors shining through! Dream Keeper is a reliable early bloomer. I am a little surprised that Purple Grasshopper is one of the first in the Southwest Garden. It didn’t bloom at all last summer but seems to have profited from being put in a put with new soil and no tree roots.

BTW – My plants are noticeably bigger this year after they were moved last year. I am hoping that results in more blooms this year. Here are the blooms of the day:

Premiers for Today

Former Premiers (this year):

Saratoga Springtime – Premier Bloom 6.3.11 (this photo was taken 2 days ago)

Follow our NEW! Art and Nature from the Hartt blog page, where I will be selling plants and nature/Southwest artwork. There will be daylilies and daylily art for sale!

Three’s Company: Week 1 Roll-Call

June 8, 2020Leave a comment

Daylily season has begun. I have been trying to remember all of the things I did with the blog last year. I know I did Premier (first bloom for each cultivator, Encore for reblooms and Finales for the final bloom of each cultivator.

Because of the number of flowers I have at peak, it is easier to show Premiers, Encores, and Finales in the daily blog and try to do all the bloomers that week on Sunday. If I have less than 10 cultivators in bloom, I still post each one – so we have a couple weeks. I get a little burned out with it – but it only is crazy for a couple of weeks.

Dream Keeper (My first Ned Roberts bloom for 2020 with a few extra pedals 6.6.20

The other difference on Sunday is that I try to use Powershot photos and not phone photos. During the week, I don’t always have time but I try.

So, as you can see (above), Stella de Oro joined the group today. 3 out of 171 bloomed so far with 55 spikes or so. And 171 cultivators. That is a 1.7% bloom rate. No where to go but up. I am just glad these kids are resilient because the wind has been blowing constantly since the rain stopped yesterday – gusts to 60 MPH. Poor early bloomers get Springtime in the Rockies. Let’s see what tomorrow blows in . . .

Drizzle and Dragons

August 12, 2019August 12, 20192 Comments

Sunday. I decided not to work on work until later or tomorrow because my energy is feeling all the change. I slept in and woke up to delightful drizzle in my garden. I had 18 bloomers and one Premier – Heirloom Heaven. She was a bonus and she is supermini. Also, one of my most reliable fall bloomers. I know the season is starting to close-up for another year when I see her.

Heirloom Heaven – 8.11

That said, I still have well over 100 buds – maybe close to 200. Last year, I had 18. So, the blog will continue.

I also had another one of my amaryllis bloom today – Double Dragon. Pretty color and shape. It makes me wonder about the real triggers for blooming because my bloom rate is better in the summer. I am considering leaving these guys out and just cutting water this year. Or, maybe leave them in the cellar until spring. I would have more room for other plants with plan B, but my bloom rate might be better with plan A.

Double Dragon Amaryllis 8.11

I have also come to terms with the fact that I am burned out with my orchids. Oh, I still love them but work is requiring more energy than anticipated and I have come to dread orchid chores. So, if a few die off, that is OK. I decided to try air plants because they are more resilient to drought but still look good in glass, like my water culture orchids. I purchased a few to fill dead orchid areas. That should help my winter pass. It feels like fall today!

Air plants in glass

Air plant in macrame hanger

The Company They Keep!

July 23, 2019July 23, 2019Leave a comment

Sorting photos of daylilies . . . People ask me how I keep them straight. Well, I don’t always but I generally do OK because I have some systems to help. First, I have a garden map that I created a couple years ago. It is awesome, it has circles for each daylily in my Southwest Garden with the color of each daylily. And, they have letters/numbers. You can look up the letter/number and see the daylily name with a photo.

The other system is metal markers that have paint pen on them. Want to know a little secret – if you spray them with engine spray after you paint the name on it stays on for years!!!

So, if one system fails, I have the other. As I go through old photos, though, there is a system that works even if it has been a while since you took the photo. Well, look at the company it keeps. I look for landscaping or other plants. I look for other daylilies – what is the backdrop. Usually, I can figure it out. I did make a couple mistakes on Treasure of the Southwest (confused with Soco Gap) that I need to go back and fix.

It feels good to be sort of caught up. But, I realize how different this year is as far as photography. Previous years, I took my phone photos to post on Facebook or if I didn’t have time to download from the camera. I used the camera to get multiple shots of each bloom – especially new blooms and last blooms. This year, both the cell and camera only have one photo of each cultivator/day except in a few cases. That means if the daylily was blooming during my trip, I may only have a photo or two of it for the whole year – half a dozen max.

Perhaps I can enjoy snapping a few more photos now that the trips are done and I have my photosystem for the year up and running. I had 65 total, today. The peak is still with us. Anyway – not quite so many Premiers today. Here they are: