July, She Will Fly and Give No Warning to Her Flight

July 3, 2022Leave a comment

Simon and Garfunkel were spot on. July and daylily season will fly by. Time is different in July. The flowers . . . what will bloom and when will it bloom? Blogs are a way to document the days when daylilies dominate our lives. They fly by too fast to remember without written record.

I had 3 new Ned Roberts spiders today, and 6 total premiere blooms for 2022. I’m still in the 20s for bloom totals each day. Peak is 40-60, so we need premiere to outnumber finales for a bit longer.

The first Roberts spider was sold to me as either Pueblo Dreamer or Pueblo Dancer. It’s never fit either description. It hated life until I put it in a pot with a soak hose. I thought that might be making the bloom weird. But, she is happy now and I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s Roberts’ Bark at Me. In my Southwest Visions garden? Well, I always take the dogs on road trips. Woof.

Pink Rain Dance is timely this year in the middle of monsoon season. And, Land of Enchantment takes me to all our trips to New Mexico. Last summer was fun visiting Truchas, Chimayo, and Ghost Ranch.

South Seas is a nice coral color that put in an appearance, but not in the Southwest garden.

Sweet Petite Petticoats opened. I think she is my favorite small all yellow bloom

Canyon Colors is a favorite but struggling a bit. The bloom obviously has bug damage. July has definitely brought the bugs. Always a tough problem in the daylily garden.

Tomorrow, we will see what July holds in store.

Daylilies are My Life

July 5, 2021Leave a comment

This time of year, it feels like daylilies are my life. I have had about 30 blooms in the garden for several days. Yesterday, we hit 40. Today, we hit 60!. It took me almost an hour just to photograph them – let alone photo editing and posting. Last night, I took a lot of photos of fireworks – It felt very similar in my garden today. A few pauses, but mostly lots of action. Do I think we are at peak – no. But it is getting closer.

Here are the premiers for today. Hang on – there are 10 (so about 80 cultivators have bloomed so far). Today, there were several of my favorite hybridizer’s blooms that opened (Ned Roberts). Daylily season is like Christmas . . . the peak is a little overwhelming. At the same time, it is like old friends who visit once a year.

Chokecherry Mountain 7.5 (A Ned Roberts Spider)

Feather Woman 7.5 (A Ned Roberts spider)

Heavenly Curls – one of my favorite bonus daylilies!

Longlesson Show-off – Not one of my favorite bonus daylilies, but the bloom looked fuller and more colorful today than usual. Maybe the soil change and drip system.

Medicine Feather – A lanky Ned Roberts spider

Another bonus – Nona’s Garnet Spider – I have always liked her.

Pueblo Dancer – 7.5 – another Roberts spider but I have always questioned her ID. Her blooms are larger this year with the soil change!

Strutter’s Ball – 7.5 – a late bloom start for this long-time member of my daylily pack

Talon – 7.5 Another old friend from my Roberts collection

Finales have started to add up a little, too. I missed Platinum Pink Palette Whispers. Today was the last of Funny Valentine’s show for 2021.

Wholly cow! This took all day. It’s 4:30! Hopefully, I got the bugs worked out of my back-up system so it doesn’t take as long tomorrow. I gotta get painting and get my business inventory going! Follow my business blog for updates, too.

Pueblo Dancer

May 18, 2020May 24, 2020Leave a comment

“My mom just painted a mural on the neighbor’s garage,” my daughter told the friend she was chatting with on the phone. The year was 1998 and I had just purchased my home, which came with murals on the garage. I live on a split lot, so the side of my neighbor’s garage is also my back fence. It never occurred to me that was wrong to paint it. In fact, I am likely helping preserve the old wood building by keeping it painted.

The murals in 2016 (and a few daylilies)

I knew I wanted a Southwest feel, so I took a Native American pot off my fireplace (BTW, five moves and 22 years later it is back on the mantel) and painted the Monument Valley design that was on the pot across the top of the mural.

Mural 2018 – still looks pretty good. The year I added the orchids.

I moved away in 1998, but came back in 2006. The mural was still there, although weathered – so I revitalized it then.

The mural in 2020 after stripping loose paint off.

It wasn’t until 2011 that I revitalized it, again. This time, I added a Native American Pueblo off some artwork on my wall. Now, anyone who knows the Southwest knows I am mixing my metaphors on that mural. Monument Valley does not have Native America pueblos. But, oh well, the original mural on the garage is the Senora desert. It is like a collage of my spring road trip right in my own back yard.

The mural site with primer – 2020 (yesterday)

The paint was curling bad this spring. It looked as bad as I have seen it. Maybe it’s cause I have my orchids under the shade sail against part of the wall, so it stays more humid.

Mural looks as good as new today!

Another section of the mural now has my dogs added.

Anyway, I stripped it down to wood where the paint was peeling and used primer to help hold the paint down better. It was a project that took all weekend. Well, I added my dogs, and that took time. And, I am working on a new Native American powwow dancer for the other wall.

Next week, I will finish the dancer and add some hoodoos from Goblin Valley to the area that has the dogs. Hopefully, it won’t take all weekend.

New painting will be a likeness of this young dancer

Pueblo Dancer is the name of a daylily in my Southwest garden. I have had her several years, she came with a bunch of Ned Roberts daylilies. The only thing is, I think she is mislabeled because she was suppose to be a tall daylily, and she is not.

“Pueblo Dancer” in my yard – 2018

She doesn’t look like that much the pictures of the cultivator, Pueblo Dancer. I would love anyone’s input on who she really is – or is she herself? Maybe she just isn’t happy in my yard? At any rate, next weekend, I will be adding this Native American dancer to the mural near the pueblo. A new pueblo dancer to replace the peeled one.

Picture of Pueblo Dancer from Shady Rest Gardens

I have to thank the stay-at home (and COVID-19) for helping me to find my creative side. I do better with a schedule I can flex. It is just how creatives are.

A Celebration of Spiders! (Ned Roberts)

August 7, 2018Leave a comment

The days grow August-quiet. It seems a dream that I had nearly 60 blooms per day just a month ago. So, today, we will do finales. And, then, a roll-call of my Ned Roberts spiders.

Finales:

Chorus Line 8.5

Rosie’s Red 8.6

So, maybe if I do the Ned Roberts spider roll-call it will entice one more into bloom this year. My Ghost Ranch is a fall bloom, but I am having a rough time getting her to thrive here. Maybe some fish fertilizer? Our temps are still above average with little rain.

Ned Roberts Spiders for 2018 Season:

Adios Albuquerque

Apache Bandana

Aztec Firebird

Black Arrowhead

Black Ice

Chaco Canyon

Cheyenne Eyes

Chokecherry Mountain

Comanche Princess

Desert Icicle

Dream Catcher

Dream Keeper

Fox Ears

Happy Hopi

Iktomi

Kachina Firecracker

Kokopelli

Laughing Feather

Mama Cuna

Moon Over Chimayo

Navajo Curls

Navajo Rodeo

Papa Longlegs

Pink Rain Dance

Pueblo Dancer is her label, but she doesn’t look like that one. So???

Purple Corn Dancer

Purple Grasshopper

Purple Many Faces

Purple Moonrise

Purple Thunderbird

Raspberry Propeller

Raven Woodsong

Rocky Mountain Pals

Santa Fe Christmas

Shape Shifter

Skinwalker

Taco Twister

Talon

Twirling Pinata

Wild Rose Fandango

Zuni Eye

Zuni Thunderbird

Out of interest, here are my Ned Roberts spiders that bloomed last year but did not bloom this year:

Coral Taco 2017

Glen Eyrie

Pink Enchilada 2017

And, we had a few in 2016 that have not bloomed again:

Chief Four Fingers 2016

Ghost Ranch

Winds of Love 2016

I have around 64 of Ned’s spiders in my garden. I had 42 bloom this year or about 65%. Last year, I had 13 (about 20%) bloom. Marked improvement. All total, to date, I have had 48 (or 75%) bloom. That is a long way from 100%. But, marked improvement. I think some of the ones that bloomed in 2016 were put in that year (still flourishing from the nursery), struggled last year in the clay soil, and are recovering (growing new roots) this year in their pots. I am sure that the drought had an impact, as well.

So, for fun, here are the ones I have that have never bloomed (photos from the web):

Apache Beacon

Coyote Laughs

Cricket Call

Cripple Creek

Dancing Maiden

Echo Canyon

Feather Woman

Golden Eclipse

Kachina Dancer

Kiva Dancer

Land of Enchantment

Maya Cha Cha

Medicine Feather

Mount Echo Sunrise

Navajo Grey Hills

Ojo de Dios

Orchid Moonrise

The Real Pueblo Dancer

Spirit of the Morning

Star over Milagro

Truchas Sunrise

Wildwood Flower

We made improvements, but we have aways to go. That’s life

July 1: Daylily Roll Call!

July 1, 2018Leave a comment

It is Sunday and the peak is starting. It will probably take me an hour to get this bog with all the photos for the week published. I am doing it this way so that each daylily comes up on a couple searches of the blog. My job entails creating about 20 template emails a day for the following day – it is a lot of looking up progress and pasting from my last note. Not a creative’s dream. So, when I save my drafts for the day, I have a blank email to note that it is a new day – and that email is always named after a daylily. The most creative 5 minutes/day of my job is picking this daylily. The collages just don’t work.

So – We will start with the newbies. Primal Scream is in bloom for the 3rd year. Last year, the blooms were small and anemic. She is now in an above ground put inside the Walkway Garden. I hoped for more scapes, but 2 is OK for this year, gives the fall transplant. Nothing beats her vibrant color.

Primal Scream 7/1

Indian Giver was a newbie in the Southwest Garden. She is a small daylily and was a bonus plant 3 years ago. She only gets a couple buds every year. She needs to be dug up and put in a buried pot, but the yucca is close, so not sure how I will get this done. I would like to have more blooms. She is adorable.

Indian Giver 7/1

Last but not least, from my Family Garden is Stephanie Returns. This flower makes my heart sad. Losing a family member who is still alive is horrid. Losing several is bitter and cruel. Please don’t tell people you understand or offer advise while you are surrounded with family. Please don’t tell people God is giving you this lesson for some reason or other. Do bookmark this page and come back here and look at this flower and help send positive vibes to anyone in the universe who had ever known the heartbreak such a loss can bring.

Stephanie Returns 7/1

OK – Enough heavy stuff. Onward to the roll call. Here go the A-Z blooms from 6/25 through today. Enjoy.

Alabama Jubilee 6/27

Apache Bandana 6/29

Aztec Firebird 7/1

Black Arrowhead 6/30

Black Ice 6/27

Bluegrass Music 6/27

Canyon Colors 6/30

Catherine Irene 6/30

Chaco Canyon 6/30

Cheyenne Eyes 6/29

Chokecherry Mountain 6/26

Comanche Princess 6/26

Dark Mystery (noid) 6/29

Dream Keeper 6/25

Early Bird Cardinal 7/1

Electric Lizard 6/30

Funny Valentine 6/30

Happy Hopi 6/30

Happy Returns 6/29

Holy Sombrero 6/28

Hopi Jewel 6/27

Indian Love Call 6/28

Inwood 6/30

Jungle Queen 6/29

Lady Fingers 7/1

Laughing Feather 6/27

Mesa Verde 6/29

Mini Pearl 6/30

Navajo Rodeo 7/1

Nurse’s Stethoscope 7/1

Papa Longlegs 6/30

Passionate Returns 6/29

Petite Petticoats 6/29

Pink and Cream 6/26

Pink Rain Dance 6/26

Prairie Blue Eyes 6/25

Pueblo Dancer 6/30

Purple Many Faces 6/29

Purple Mystique 6/30

Red Riddle 6/30

Return a Smile 7/1

Rocky Mountain Pals 6/29

Route 66 6/27

Ruby Spider 6/29

Ruby Stella 6/30

Saratoga Springtime 6/28

Soco Gap 7/1

Stella de Oro 6/26

Strutter’s Ball 6/29

Talon 6/29

The Colorado Kid 6/29

Thin Man 7/1

Treasure of the Southwest 7/1

Wild Horses 6/29

Wineberry Candy 6/26

Yellow Punch 6/26

Zuni Eye 6/26

Zuni Thunderbird 6/30

Horses, Canyons, Rodeos, and Our Blooms for the Week!

June 25, 2018Leave a comment

Summer is here! I got home from camping 6 hours ago and am still trying to get everything done for the weekend! When I don’t take photos in the morning, the blooms are pretty sunburned by noon. And we had wind today. And single digit humidity. So, for today there were 5 new blooms.

Wild Horses is a favorite, dependable bloomer. I have had her 3 years and she puts on quite a show. Can you see the wild horses in her pattern?

Wild Horses 6/24

So, Chaco Canyon bloomed when we returned from this same camping adventure last year. I love her stripes!

Chaco Canyon 6/24

A brand new face for this year is Navajo Rodeo. Waiting 3 years to see some of these has taken patience. She reminds me of Talon, but redder. I am sure they are related.

Navajo Rodeo 6/24

Ruby Spider is one of my oldest blooms, and always a favorite. She is huge, and oh so red!

Ruby Spider 6/24

And little Happy Returns is back. She is such a delicate little yellow trumpet.

Happy Returns 6/24

And there is the long roster (with photos) of all or our blooms from 6/18 through today:

Bluegrass Music 6/21

Canyon Colors 6/21

Comanche Princess 6/22

Dark Mystery 6/20

Dream Keeper 6/22

Funny Valentine 6/19

Holy Sombrero 6/22

Hopi Jewel 6/20

Indian Love Call 6/20

Jungle Queen 6/20

Kokopelli 6/19

Laughing Feather 6/19

Mesa Verde 6/22

Nurse’s Stethoscope 6/21

Painted Petroglyph 6.21

Pink Rain Dance 6/22

Platinum Palate Pink Whispers 6/22

Prairie Blue Eyes 6/19

Pueblo Dancer 6/22

Purple Many Faces 6/22

Purple Mystic 6/20

Red Riddle 6/21

Return a Smile 6/19

Saratoga Springtime 6/21

Stella de Oro 6/19

Talon 6/21

The Colorado Kid 6/22

Treasure of the Southwest 6/21

Wineberry Candy 6/24

Yellow Punch 6/22

Zuni Eye 6/20

So far, that makes 36 that have bloomed in the yard. Of 170-something. 21% or so of my cultivators have bloomed so far. Tomorrow, it looks like more new faces will join the count!

Appreciation of Nature, Beauty

June 23, 2018Leave a comment

Friday. Finally. I had a ton of blooms today. Over 20. And, now, I’m camping under the stars in the National Forest about 50 miles from my yard. I’ll miss tomorrow’s blooms, but will catch the ones on Sunday. It’s worth it to get away from the routine for a few hours. It’s quiet here due to the drought and burn ban.

So, back to daylilies from this morning. I had 4 new ones. Pueblo Dancer, another Ned Roberts spider, gave me only a couple anemic blooms last year. This year, she is still too scrawny, but herblooms are much prettier.

Apache Bandana is another of Ned’s blooms. I love her dark color and long petals. It’s her first ever bloom for me.

Speaking of droughts, Pink Rain Dance, another of Ned’s spiders, bloomed for the first time today. I hope she brings the monsoons.

And, Holy Sombrero was another first ever bloom from a gift plant I put on 2 years ago. Her huge yellow bloom is amazing.

It’s funny, because I arranged that garden to have the taller blooms in back. It seems like the ones in the front row age taller that average, and the ones in the back are shorter.

The sun is going down, my melatonin is kicking in. I’ll be back Sunday with all my bloomers for the week.

Grit

August 3, 2017Leave a comment

Today was split shift . . . a day of grit to get more daylilies protected from the soil and roots in my home ground. I gotta tell you, I am ready to be done. And, yet, I have barely started in the Southwest garden. Ugh, that clay soil is definitely part of the problem in the area where the daylilies are not thriving as much. I put my first two full pots out there, buried. The challenge is to make sure the sprinkler hose hits them. Some others are in bottomless pots, and some in the black nursery containers, mostly without bottoms. We will see what works. It is possible that what works is just digging deeper in that clay and replacing it with real soil. But, the pots keep the unwanted roots out. Grit.

So, I had no new blooms. Decided to play with my photo editor. So, here is Indian Sky from today in colored chalk.

Also, I am resharing my Ned Roberts spider collage because I forgot Glen Eyrie. I guess 19 out of 69 could be worse. Almost 30%. But, that clay has to get split up to improve things. Next year, I would like to hit 40. Keep on digging. Grit! Except, this weekend I have a date with my tent.

Left to Right: Top Row – Adios Albuquerque, Aztec Firebird, Black Ice, Chaco Canyon, Chief Four Fingers, Coral Taco. Middle Row: Desert Icicle, Dream Catcher, Dream Keeper, Ghost Ranch, Glen Eyrie, Kokopelli, Papa Longlegs. Bottom Row – Pink Enchilada, Pueblo Dancer, Rasberry Propeller, Skinwalker, Twirling Pinata, Zuni Thunderbird

Web of Spiders

August 2, 2017August 2, 2017Leave a comment

Today, I think I got my last NEW Ned Roberts bloom for the year. The new one is Coral Taco. The challenge is taking a photo of a flower doing yoga. Yes, both me and the flower!

I started collecting Ned’s spiders a couple years ago when I saw one named Kokopelli on the auction. I cannot believe how little I knew about daylilies then!!! Anyway, once I figured out they were hybridized close to home and there were lots of Southwestern and Colorado names, I had to have more. And, most have not ever bloomed yet, although this year most of them grew big and healthy.

From L to R: Top Row: Adios Albuquerque, Aztec Firebird, Black Ice, Chaco Canyon, Chief Four Fingers. Middle Row: Coral Taco, Desert Icicle, Dream Catcher, Dream Keeper, Ghost Ranch, Kokopelli. Bottom Row: Papa Longlegs, Pink Enchilada, Pueblo Dancer, Skinwalker, Raspberry Propeller (not a Southwestern name), Twirling Pinata, Zuni Thunderbird.

It is sort of disappointing that several that bloomed last year did not bloom this year. My Southwest garden was where a pine was planted until they uprooted it for a new sewer a decade or more ago. A pine in the middle of a rock garden. So, I work on water and soil. There is clearly a part of the patch with bigger plants and a part with strugglers. And, so I am working on that, too. Maybe a tree trim???

Despite the disappointment of wanting more bloom, I was impressed when I put these all together in one collage. I cannot wait to see them all!!! I think I have around 50 total.

I think there will be a break for several days before any more new blooms. So, like these cool spiders, I will be thinking of themes to highlight certain daylilies.

Tiny Dancer

July 7, 2017July 7, 2017Leave a comment

“Hold me closer tiny dancer
Count the headlights on the highway
Lay me down in sheets of linen
You had a busy day today” Elton John

The new face today is a bloom that was labeled Pueblo Dancer, another Ned Roberts spider. My 6th “Ned” this year in that garden. Except, I don’t think it is Pueblo Dancer. It’s pretty small for 40-inch scapes (try 12), and it is not the right colors. Oh boy, the only one it looks like is Chokecherry Mountian . . . but that is in a different part of the garden. I guess I will post it to the Daylily Society and see what they think.

For tomorrow, there will be new ones. I think Route 66. I saw some others that were close but I don’t remember which now. It has been a day of pushing hard at work when I could use some healing. So, like the daylilies, it is time to let go and bloom again, tomorrow.

Colorado Kid Daylilies

A Blog About My Western Colorado Daylily Adventure

Tag: Pueblo Dancer

July, She Will Fly and Give No Warning to Her Flight

Daylilies are My Life

Pueblo Dancer

A Celebration of Spiders! (Ned Roberts)

July 1: Daylily Roll Call!

Horses, Canyons, Rodeos, and Our Blooms for the Week!

Appreciation of Nature, Beauty

Grit

Web of Spiders

Tiny Dancer

“Hold me closer tiny dancer
Count the headlights on the highway
Lay me down in sheets of linen
You had a busy day today” Elton John

“Hold me closer tiny dancer Count the headlights on the highway Lay me down in sheets of linen You had a busy day today” Elton John

“Hold me closer tiny dancer
Count the headlights on the highway
Lay me down in sheets of linen
You had a busy day today” Elton John