Tag: Route 66

Roadtrip!

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Today’s new blooms remind me of my annual road trip to the southwest.  First, an old friend that is ailing a little this year, Route 66.  I am hoping my driveway drip system kicks this one back in because I think I will only get 2 blooms this year, and this one is very undersized.

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The second one is absolutely gorgeous: Dream Catcher.  It bloomed last year, but this year the blooms seem bigger and more iridescent.  It totally looks like the dream catchers that the Navajo sell at the roadside stands along the highway.   And, if this is in the middle of my Southwest Garden, then there is hope for more blooms next year.  In fact, Adios Albuquerque is sending up a scape!!!

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My garden has been my road trip this week.  I am so grateful for a hobby with so much positive emotion.  Gardens are a great place to heal and escape the obsessions that create imbalance all around me now.  I am obsessed with my blooms.

I had 23 in bloom today.  So, the peak is close.   I am a little bummed to have to leave for a business trip in the middle of it.  I hope I don’t miss too much.  I wish I could have a webcam on each of my daylilies.

Tomorrow – pretty sure there will be new faces.  Who knows?  That is the joy of daylily season.

Tiny Dancer

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“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

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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.

And, the Peak Goes On! (In Colorado)

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I walked out the door to over twice as many blooms as yesterday.  Twenty-one!  So, we are continuing to climb to the apex of the season.  Interesting that in this bouquet that there are no new cultivators.  So, what to talk about?  Perhaps what the sun does to color in daylilies.  I am no hybridizer, but I was a printer at one point much earlier in my life.  I learned about color then . . . additive and subtractive.  

It is my understanding that daylilies don’t have genes to make blue.  So, the near blue flowers are a mosaic.  Additive color is what I use when I paint my blooms.  It is easy compared to subtractive color . . . which is done with light and filters.  If I was issuing a somewhat educated guess, I would say this must be a subtractive process.  

So, here is my stunning Blue Beat before the rays of sun hit it directly: 

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Blue Beat – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

And here it is just 5-10 minutes later, as the first rays of sun found its pedals: ( It shifts from blue, green, and light pink to peach, yellow, and purple).  I would love to hear a hybridizer’s take on this!

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Blue Beat – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

I had a lot of cool spiders today – Ruby Spider, Thin Man, Aztec Firebird, Zuni Thunderbird, and Desert Icicle.  Here is one with Ruby and the Thin Man.

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Ruby Spider with Thin Man in the distance – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

Also, three out of five in my family garden are blooming today: Here are all three: Isaac (grandson), Mini Pearl (Minnie Pearl – grandma), and Stephanie (daughter).  The colors are nice together.  Maya Poppy (for granddaughter, Maia) is going to blend right in.  Hopefully, soon.  Catherine Irene, momma’s namesake, looks like it is waiting for now.

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All in the Family from L to R: Isaac, Mini Pearl, and Stephanie Returns – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

So, here are today’s 21.  Busiest day of 2016 so far.  At least until I start trying to paint all of these for Christmas presents!  Oh, help!

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In alphabetical order from L to R: Top Row – Aztec Firebird, Blue Beat, Desert Icicle, Early Bird Cardinal, Isaac.  Row Two – Lady Fingers, Mesa Verde, Mini Pearl, Pick of the Litter, Prelude to Love, Purple de Oro. Row Three – Razzamatazz, Return a Smile, Route 66, Ruby Spider, Soco Gap, South Seas.  Bottom Row – Stephanie Returns, Thin Man, VooDoo Dancer and Zuni Thunderbird.

 

So, I am ready for a nap!

Climbing to the Peak of Daylily Color

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If yesterday was a little quiet (for July) in my garden, today was a bit overwhelming.  There were several new faces.

Thin Man bloomed for the first time ever – the biggest bloom (12 inches) in my garden.

 

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Thin Man – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

One of my Ned Roberts Southwest spiders also showed his colors for the first time ever in my yard.  Meet Aztec Firebird.

 

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Aztec Firebird – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

And, a nice little addition called Pick of the Litter was also a first-time in my yard bloomer today.  Funny, this was a gift plant and I don’t remember the plant it came with – or if that plant has bloomed.

 

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Pick of the Litter – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

First blooms for 2016 in my existing daylilies included one that I don’t have a name for – so I decided to call it Montrose Sunset.  I picked this up when I xeriscaped a few years ago . . . before I was a true hobbiest.  And, I cannot find the name but I like the bloom a lot.

 

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??? “Montrose Sunset” – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

Prelude to Love is a pretty dark red/purple bloom that reappears each year, as well.

 

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Prelude to Love – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

Strutter’s Ball is one I added last year and (like its neighbors, Inwood and Funny Valentine) it is astruggling to produce blooms this year.  I decided today that when my blues finish blooming in a week or two, I will switch their locations and see what happens.  The issue, I believe, is figuring out which pots the sprinkler system over-waters, and which it under-waters.  And, then, balancing that.

 

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Strutter’s Ball – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

Cheddar Cheese, aptly, lives near my outdoor grill and is back to top-off our hamburgers.

 

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Cheddar Cheese – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

Blackthorn is one I put in last year – I really like this bloom!

 

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Blackthorne – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

 

And, here is today’s collage.  I tried to put this is semi-rainbow order.  It is a lot of color, for sure.  The peak has come to this yard on the Colorado Plateau.

 

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From L to R: Top Row: Route 66, ? “Montrose Sunset”, Isaac, Mildred Mitchell, Razzamatazz, Prelude to Love. Row Two: Indian Love Call, Soco Gap, Aztec Firebird, Lady Fingers, Purple De Oro, Strutters Ball.  Row Three: Early Bird Cardinal, Thin Man, Cheddar Cheese, (Lady Fingers), Blackthorn, VooDoo Dancer.  Bottom Row: Stephanie Returns, Pick of the Litter and Return a Smile.

 

Hey, folks, that is eight new blooms in the yard today.  That puts me at circa 45 different blooms this year. (That means about 90 have not bloomed – but many are year ones or small year twos.)   I only need 20+ more to hit 50%.  I have a lot of scapes – so maybe . . . stay tuned.

 

The Daylily Dozen (plus one)

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Today, I finally had a dozen different daylilies in bloom in my yard.  I limited photos, but it still took forever to go through them 😉  I decided to put today’s collage in some sort of order by color from purple to yellow.

I want to keep this short, but also share some new faces.  First is a brand new face, Indian Love Call.  It is a pretty dark bloom with thin peddles.  Nice addition to the front yard.

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Indian Love Call – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

The next one is “almost” brand new.  I got South Seas toward the end of last season and I only got one bloom.  I love the bright colors and large bloom size.

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South Seas – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

Then an old favorite, Route 66.  I found this one the year that Route 66 was the epicenter of my Southwest road trip. The hybridizer created this one back when Route 66 was still more of an American dream trip.  The colors are spot-on.

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Route 66 – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

Another new face today is my first “Mexican Daylily” that is really called a Shell Flower.  These blooms got their nickname because each bloom only lasts one day.  I love the beautiful pattern on the bottom.  These are bulbs that I got for $1 at the grocery store in February (all 12 of them).

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“Mexican Daylily” – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

And, finally, below is my Daylily Dozen. It is of note that Colorado Kid almost looks like a different flower now that it is hot.  It is up with the dark reds but was a pink in earlier blossoms.

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From L to R. Top Row: Kokopelli, Purple de Oro, Black Ice, The Colorado Kid. Row two: Indian Love Call, Route 66, Ruby Spider, Early Bird Cardinal. Bottom Row: Mesa Verde, South Seas, Primal Scream, Lady Fingers.

What’s up for tomorrow?  Lucky 13.

Getting my Kicks

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As the scapes grow in preparation for blooms and the outdoor thermostat gets turned up, I think about the first sign of spring.  For me, that is my Southwest road trip.  It is a new tradition for the last three years.  When you drive south from Colorado, it is nearly impossible not to hit #Route66.

SouthwestRoadTrip14 118The first year, it was the goal to travel Route 66.  We took the old road as much as we could, and took the Route 66 turnout at our end point, the Petrified Forest.  I love this old car at the turn-out!

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The Petrified Forest/Painted Desert have become favorite stops because they are #dogfriendly.  There are very few National Parks with such open rules about dogs.  So, it is a great ice cream and a hike stop.

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And, the scenery is like something out of Jurassic Park. What was once the far point of my trip is now more of a gateway to the Senora Desert.

So, what does this matter to a daylily blog? Well, first of all, I take the trip about the time that the daylilies are starting to send up new growth for the year.  But the other really cool part is that after that first trip to Route 66, I came home to find a daylily named Route 66.

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I found it in the local garden shop, before I got addicted to the mail order daylilies.  It was one of those strange coincidences, just like my 6/5/16 blog about finding a local Stephanie Returns daylily the year my daughter, Stephanie, returned to Colorado.  Route 66 is an older daylily that was hybridized in 1967.  The colors match my Route 66 tea shirt.  It is a hardy daylily and I look forward to seeing it again in 2016!