Gradual increases in elevation as we climb to the peak. Today, it felt like the peak was not too much more of a climb. Grab your oxygen, here are the new blooms for today:
That’s 9 new, 44 in bloom today, and 70 total that have bloomed this year. That’s a 40% bloom rate and we are headed for around 90%. 70 down, almost 100 to go to reach that goal. Makes me tired but tomorrow, we climb, again. Good thing for our Rocky Mountain Pals.
Today is Colorado Day! My home state is 145 years old today! I remember when it was 100 and I was 21, but we won’t go there.
Today, before my one premier, I want to talk about my CO namesake daylilies. I am going to start with Cripple Creek, because she was in bloom today.
That’s a nice batch of daylilies to celebrate Colorado’s 145th BD.
Now, on to our (likely) next to last premier. I only have Adios Albuquerque left unless we get an August Surprise. I love Navajo Curls. She looks like melting butter to me. An awesome late bloomer with a ton of buds.
I’m blogged out for the moment but I will be back after a short break – later this week. Despite having over 2 dozen in bloom today, we have a lot of finales brewing.
Here is part 1 of this blog post These posts include all daylilies that were in bloom in July in my yard. Please see first post for more details.
No U, No V – I need to fix that with some new flowers 🙂
No X, either!
That is all for July, folks. Look for our Colorado Day (8/1) blooms up next!
What an interesting year! Not only have I reached semi-retirement age, I am having an amazing daylily bloom year. The drip systems with miracle grow soil replacement paid off in spades. It is honestly overwhelming because it takes an hour just to photograph them. I spend about 5 hours a day (not counting the painting) on daylilies right now.
I would not call this a peak – because on 7/3 we hit 60. It has been in the 50s and 60s each day since. And . . . drumroll . . . today I had 63. Last year, I charted the peak and it was clearly one day at 40, the other days were 20s at best. Granted, I was on vacation the last 2 years this week, but I think the numbers are an accurate reflection of a short, less intense peak. This isn’t a peak, it is a Southwest Mesa – and a grand one, at that.
I had 6 premiers today. Laudy. Here they are:
That’s all folks! Off to paint some daylilies in the basement while the temps reach 100 today.
Hi all – When it is Saturday and it hasn’t been the fun day that I planned. COVID had driven the world mad – and they seem to all be mad at me. So, how about a little Ned Robert’s daylily therapy? I fell in love with Ned’s southwestern named daylilies after finding Kokopelli on Lily Auction 5 years ago. I have a collection of 70 ish now. I am including a few from 2019 if they didn’t bloom this year. Comment with your favorite! Direct from Montrose, Colorado . . .
So many people wonder why I am so into daylilies. Afterall, they only last one day. I have orchids, but I am growing pretty bored and letting them go – maybe because the blooms last so long that, after a while, you stop noticing.
Novel experience (as long as it is positive) boosts human wellbeing. We get a dopamine rush when we see something new! Novel experiences boost our memory and improve our longevity. I’m a creative – I need novel experiences to feel alive.
It is funny, because life was in a horrible rut before the novel coronavirus entered my life. Suddenly, the world turned upside-down. My onground job went online. My whole routine changed. Life was novel. Not to say that a novel virus (one that is a whole new experience to the human immune system) is good for us because it is not a positive kind of experience.
So, yea, each bud opens and last a day (two in cold weather). But, if you get enough buds on enough plants, it plays this beautiful melody that is unique each and everyday.
I had 40 today. I’m beat going through photos, but had some great premiers. My strange and handsome Talon gave me a premier bloom for 2020 today.
And, Cherokee Star, who chose not to bloom last year, returned for a 2020 premier today. She looks like velvet.
Speaking of happiness, Happy Hopi showed up today for another bloom year. She has the most interesting shape – definitely NOT a trumpet.
Indian Giver opened her first bud of the year today – a fun bonus daylily in the Southwest garden.
The front garden is coming to life a little more with some fun color – Prairie Wildfire showed up and looks ready for July 4th in Red, White and Blue.
Black Eyed Susan also came into view today – she adds some new color to my Stella pot.
And, in my family garden, my Stephanie Returns returned. Maybe, someday she will return into my life. For now, the flower reminds me of her beautiful spirit.
Daylily Savings Time should mean we only need 4 hours of sleep so we have enough time for the peak. I guess there can be too much novelty. I read we need to balance it with daily routine . . . except, each bloom lasts only one day.
Last year, I posted all my blooms each week on Sunday since it is too much to do daily. This year, I am going to try to do a recap at the end of the month. So, for June 2020, we had the following 50:
Today was another red flag day with a fair amount of wind. Nothing like we have had a few times this spring – but decidedly dry and breezy. And, as the clouds do so often in drought years, the grey clouds seem to tease as they drift by, only leaving a few drops of moisture behind.
The premiers today were mostly pink spiders. And, pink Ned Roberts spiders, at that. Now, trying to photograph a spider daylily with wind gusts up to 30 MPH is interesting. I am like a dentist trying to tell the wind to hold it’s breath until I snap the picture. My patient is non-compliant.
First premier pink spider was Rocky Mountain Pals. This daylily has a sweet story of being dedicated to the hybridizer’s cancer treatment team. I told the story to a co-worker today because she is battling cancer.
Next, big old Pink Rain Dance catches my eye. She is a huge bloom and such a great pastel pink. I can only guess Ned Roberts named her during a drought year in the Southwest.
Funky named Pink Enchilada was also in my pack of pink premier spiders. Another big. floppy spider from my Roberts collection. I suppose they are all cousins, or something.
My last premier is an older daylily that deserves some credit for a bit of near blue – which didn’t happen much during the time she was hybridized. Prairie Blue Eyes opened her eyes for the first time in 2020 today.
I recounted scapes tonight and I think it is about 130 now. So, potentially a decent bloom rate. I can’t believe I’ll miss 6 days of it – but I will savor coming home to see the color.
As for things that go bump in the night – it is probably just my cats playing with their toys at 2 AM.
I can’t believe it has been 4 months since I logged in to do a blog. Work has been a bit over-the-top this term. It seems there is never enough faculty to pump new blood into the profession. And, then when Corona Virus hit, it meant moving our entire nursing program online. Even clinicals have been virtual.
I have had more time at home, so I can run out and turn the water on and off on the daylilies. They are getting big enough to start bearing scapes soon. My cacti have moved out, and I am starting to slowly move some others out – knowing full-well that the weather will likely turn into springtime in the Rockies in the next couple of weeks.
Nurses Stethoscope 2019
I thought that for Nurses Day, it would be fun to share some of my cultivators with medical sounding names. Of course, the one I suggested the official name for – Nurses Stethoscope – is the first choice for a Nurses Day Daylily.
Medicine Feather 2019
Medicine Feather is a runner up. Medicine feathers are eagle feathers used in healing through lining up energy.
Rocky Mountain Pals 2019
Rocky Mountain Pals was named in honor of the specialists who were treating the hybridizer. Seems another appropriate cultivator to honor the nursing profession.
Apache Bandana 2019
I am throwing one more in here for Corona Virus and all of my front line colleagues who need the PPE to provide safe care to all of us – Apache Bandana.
Seeing the color makes me excited for the first scapes . . . then blooms. Nothing safer than one’s own garden. Happy Nurses Day!
Faculty comes back to work tomorrow (except me – because the boss gets to work all summer 😉 ) Still, I had 40 cultivators in bloom today. Last year at this time, I was having surgery in a week, in-process with interviewing for this job . . . and I had only a handful of daylilies. There were none left to bloom. And, mid-August, the blog dropped into nothingness until poinsettia time. It is Jugust in my yard – my poinsettias look like it’s June and my daylilies think it is July . . . and faculty come back to work tomorrow.
Anyway – I still have 5ish that have scapes and have not bloomed yet and a lot with buds left – this blog season is not close to being over yet. So, what to talk about today? Well, I was going to talk about my daylilies with Colorado names. A couple are in bloom today – but let’s look at the summer.
Cripple Creek is a golden Ned Roberts spider that I assume is named for the gold rush town of Cripple Creek in Colorado. Ned, the hybridizer, lived fairly near Cripple Creek, CO.
Cripple Creek – 2019
I believe Echo Canyon is named for a canyon near the Royal Gorge. Ned Roberts lived closeby in Colorado Springs.
Echo Canyon – 2019
Glen Eyrie IS a place in Colorado Springs – no doubt about it! It is an old castle and new conference center. Another Ned Roberts spider.
Glen Eyrie 2019
Hesperus is the name of a sacred (to the Navajo) mountain in the San Juan Mountain Range near my home. I have no idea if the cultivator was named after the mountain, but I like the theory enough that I bought the daylily.
Hesperus – 2019
Mount Echo Sunrise – I am guessing this is named after Echo Mountain that is the tallest mountain visible from Denver. It is a guess because it is another Ned Roberts daylily.
Mount Echo Sunrise – 2019
Rocky Mountain Pals was named for the folks at the University Cancer Center in Denver – there Ned Roberts went for treatment later in his life. At least that is the story I was told.
Rocky Mountain Pals – 2019
The Colorado Kid is named after the movie – but when I saw the name early in my place name and blue daylily addiction, she had to be mine. She is the mascot of this blog!
The Colorado Kid – 2019
Colorado Kid Daylilies 