The weather has turned from spring to summer since my last post a couple weeks ago! It is in the mid to upper 90s this week. The scapes are sprouting fast and furious. I have around 100 cultivators with scapes now. I’m never sure how the daylilies will respond to drought, but I am optimistic that my bloom rate will be decent. My water bill, not so much! (I am city water dependent. It’s not cheap because we don’t get much help from Mother Nature.)
I have two cultivators that just came into bloom today. Jungle Queen and Wild Horses. Sounds like the title of a good sci-fi novel. I asked AI and got the photo below. I kind of like it. Maybe I need to use some fun AI photos of daylily names in the blog this year!
What AI says Jungle Queen and Wild Horses look like!
Here are the actual blooms. Both of these are cultivators that were early to my collection and neither bloomed last year. Good to see them back.
Jungle QueenWild Horses
My Maylily was Saratoga Springtime. I don’t usually have a Maylily, so worth a mention that the blooms started earlier than usual.
My other early bloomers are Dream Keeper and Stella de Oro. Both are still actively blooming. I always say when Saratoga Springtime gets done, that is when the popcorn starts to pop.
Daylily popcorn!
It’s getting too hot to be outside during the day. Maybe I will have more time to post between camping and community involvement! This year brings new civic priorities but I will do my best to keep you all updated on what is going on in my Western Colorado daylily garden!
My pups, Cimarron, Kachina, and Kokopelli, enjoying camping season at Ridgway, CO last week.
And so it begins! The 2025 daylily season began on May 28th with Saratoga Springtime. Always my first!
Saratoga Springtime 6.2.25
First, I am naming this bloom season “A Very Large Array of Daylilies” in honor of our recent road trip through New Mexico and Arizona with a stop at the Very Large Array (of telescopes). I wonder if daylilies can be used to talk to aliens? (The movie Contact was filmed there.)
My dogs, Kokopelli, Kachina, and Cimarron during our visit do the Very Large Array.
The season started a week or two early this year. This is likely because of the drought. It has been a dry winter and spring so far. My lawn is still semi-brown. I got out a couple of weeks ago and started my drippers to add to the sprinkler water.
Life on the edge of an extreme drought – in April!
Drought tends to bring the daylilies out early, but negatively impacts the overall bloom rate. So, we will see what happens. I currently have about two dozen cultivators with scapes.
This year, I had a lot of weeds in my pots. It is so discouraging to see this because I have nearly 200 pots and digging weeds out is costly in time and money because of soil replacement. I have creeping bellflower that is an invasive weed. The roots of the bellflower resemble daylily roots and they grow into the daylily and choke it out. Pulling them just causes roots to break and spreads the plant.
I decided to get more of the coir rounds (small tree rings) because covering bellflower is somewhat effective. I used these rounds several years ago, and they have helped, but they break down over a few years. The downside is my daylilies don’t spread – but they don’t die, either. They are not for everyone, but growing in a desert in pots – especially with invasive bellflower – they work.
Stella de Oro 6.2.25
Other bloomers so far are Stella de Oro and Dream Keeper. Stella is the generic daylily that is so common in flowerbeds. I like her because she is an early and repeat bloomer. Like most early bloomers, she is a yellow trumpet. (So is Saratoga Springtime.)
Dream Keeper 6.3.25.
Dream Keeper did not bloom last year, so I am happy to see lots of buds on several scapes. She is my first Ned Roberts daylily of the year. For those who may be new to my blog, I have a decent collection of of Ned’s spiders. Last year, my blooms were low for the garden where most of these are located.
As far as the 4 new cultivators I added last year, I lost 2 of them. I lost at least two others. I will blame the drought and the fact that I had some minor medical challenges this winter. I wasn’t focused on watering. I need to do inventory and labeling this summer (hopefully).
This post starts the blog. I generally won’t be doing daily posts this year because I am involved in a lot of civic volunteer work this summer. I will plan weekly, except for during peak. IDK if I will have a set day of the week. We will take it one post at a time. Just wanted to get started on the VERY LARGE ARRAY!
Life can change in a moment. A couple of years ago, an online friend who I met through a Facebook daylily group called Daylily Lovers and I did a daylily exchange. He lived in the same USDA zone but in the eastern US. I’m out west. I sent him Saratoga Springtime and he sent me Autumn Minaret. I guess we were looking for daylilies from opposite seasons to add to our yards.
Autumn Minaret
The daylily he sent didn’t do much last year, so today is the first ever bloom for Autumn Minaret. I want to dedicate this post to my friend. So much happened to him so quickly. I doubt he will ever see this post but I wonder how he are doing. The flower will always remind me of his love of daylilies.
Readers – Have you ever exchanged daylilies with a friend? How did it go? Please share the experience! Did you stay local or ship the daylily roots? Do you recommend daylily exchanges to others?
Until the Last Daylily Blooms: Skinwalker Painting and Signed Prints
Immerse yourself in the serene beauty of nature with this exquisite, original hand-painted daylily wall art. Capturing the delicate forms of Skinwalker, a yellow daylily with subtle pink edging, this piece serves as a charming accent for any room.
It is summer, again. I have had 3 daylilies bloom this season: Saratoga Springtime on 6.6, Burgundy Crab on 6.10, and Mesa Verde today. I have about 60-70 scapes. My bloom rate may be down this year because we didn’t get much local snow/groundwater last year. The mountains got a lot, but that doesn’t help my pots if I don’t turn on the hose.
Saratoga SpringtimeBurgundy CrabMesa Verde
I feel that selling my beautiful begonias at Country Flair in Montrose, CO is creating some gardening burnout for me. A few of my daylilies are really struggling – I mean I may lose them. Others have grass or weeds in the pots and I didn’t repot this spring. I’m an artist first and foremost (after being a retired nurse/nurse-midwife and a wellbeing practitioner.) Oh, and rescue dog mom. Time flies and plants take time. Looking forward to the daylily blooms has always been a joy – but now that the begonias are a year-around job, I just don’t get the same dopamine fix.
Camping with my rescue dogs last weekend – Kachina, Cimarron, and Kokopelli
That creates a quandary about what to do with the blog this summer. I only posted for a month last year. Really? Why? Because I needed my time back for my business – plus camping, hiking, my travel blog, etc. I will try the Instagram reels, again, because that seemed to work OK. I always say I can keep going until the last bloom – I’ll try, again!
The good news is that I’m also going to be plugging some of my stunning daylily artwork that I sell in my Etsy shop. I am running a 25% off sale “until the last daylily blooms” – so come check that out! I have cards, wall art, clocks, and pots with daylily designs – all handmade!
It’s been a weird year. Not just the weather, but definitely the weather. Cold, wet spring. It felt like winter until it was summer – then BAM we get into fire weather with high winds and low humidity. I also lost my beloved soul dog, Sazi, in March. I adopted a new special needs senior in April and she had major surgery in May. Oh, and my art/houseplant business, Art from the Hartt, changed locations in May.
My dog, Kachina, and her new sister, Kokopelli
So, daylilies have been on the back burner. But, hey, it is July 1, and only 6 cultivators have bloomed so far this season, anyway. Mostly Saratoga Springtime – who bloomed on June 7th and is now finished. I lost almost all of the daylilies that I added last fall plus a couple old timers 😦 I added a few new ones from local nurseries to fill gaps – I am also using coleus as pot savers. I ordered a few new ones for fall, but I think I am out of space to nurture too many more.
Saratoga Springtime began blooming 6.7Dream Keeper first bloom 6.25Comanche Princess began blooming today (7.1)Kokopelli began blooming 6.30Open My Eyes began blooming 6.25Stella de Oro began blooming 6.28
I can’t believe it has been nearly 11 months since my last blog. One would think I had 4 other websites and a bunch of social media to run. . . Wait, I do. LOL. Plus, it was past peak when I stopped blogging last year in early August and we are no where near peak today. Anyway, enjoy my list (with pictures) of cultivators that have come through the cold spring and into bloom. I call them psychrophilic.
Photo of Creeping Bellflower in my walkway garden last year.
The worst part is their roots look like pale daylily roots, and they grow right into the daylily root structure so it looks like daylily root. They grow tall and smother the daylilies.
This year, I’d had enough but was hesitant about herbicides. So, I decided to smother them back. I put down thick landscape fabric (including under each pot) and mulched over that. I bought about $200 in the round pot disks made of coir. Most my pots have those. My other invader is grass, so this should help that, too.
The walkway garden today. Creeping Bellflower 90% gone.
It’s a camping weekend, so I missed whatever bloomed yesterday. But, when I returned, I found Funny Valentine’s first bloom. Nice to see this deep reds returning. This one has a zillion scapes, too.
Funny Valentine 6.19
It’s both Juneteenth and Father’s Day. My granddads both died before my birth. Dad was abusive and our relationship never healed (in this lifetime). I’m not married and my son-in-law wants me distant. But, I lived in Galveston so Juneteenth means something. So, happy Juneteenth Valentines.
Orange/Yellow Punch 6.19
Another premier is Orange Punch (or Yellow Punch). Lowe’s daylily I picked up several years ago and I don’t remember the name- just the Punch part.
Oh, and the monsoons arrived while we were in our tent, of course. I don’t mind rain on the tent and hoping this brings more scapes!
Saratoga Springtime and Stella keep blooming, as do my clematis. I think Apache Bandana is very close!
Saratoga Springtime 6.19Stella de Oro 6.19Clematis 6.19
Jaundiced trumpets always start the daylily show. Screaming yellow jaundiced trumpets. It’s like a bad day in the newborn nursery, a little bit. And, since my last post, It has been pretty much the same two showing up to blow their hepatic little horns every day. Um, I don’t think bili lights are going to help them turn pink, orange, red, or purple. The warmth of the sunshine, however, is beginning to bring a bigger rainbow of color to my daylily garden. (Did I mention that I’m a nurse-midwife)
Dream Keeper 6.16.22
So, today my first Ned Roberts spider opened her eyes. Dream Keeper. Definitely not a jaundiced (yellow) trumpet. I love my Neds. My Southwest Road Trip Garden is moving slowly – only 20 scapes for 70+ cultivators so far. It’s that window where it could be the cold, dry, windy spring is just delaying the scapes or it eliminated them altogether. My other gardens have a higher percentage of scapes (unusual timing) but also get more water, so IDK yet.
Saratoga Springtime 6/13Stella de Oro 6/15
Anyway, I mentioned I wanted to highlight a few of my non-daylily flowers this summer. So, here we go. Definitely, not all jaundiced trumpets.
Red RoseClematisTrue LilyConeflowerBlanket FlowerBlanket FlowerColeus GardenHosta Garden
It’s beginning to look a lot like summer! Today is 6/8. It was 8/6 when I wrote my last blog about daylilies blooming in my yard.
Saratoga Springtime premier bloom 6/3/22
Today isn’t the first day I had a bloom for the year. That was Friday – the same day we left on our first camping trip of the season. I sort of wish daylily season didn’t overlap with camping season. I always have to miss out on something. Last weekend, however, I did not miss out on the mountain wildflowers.
Stella de Oro premier bloom 6/7/22
I have actually been giving some thought to the blog this summer. I am going to simplify my photos and just use my cellphone – except maybe premiers or exceptional blooms. It takes way too much time to do photos of 60+ blooms/day on both cell and camera. I also want to include my other blooms around the yard somehow. And, I would like to spend more energy on providing gardening tips. Plus, some video.
Our wildflower hike on the Grand Mesa in Colorado
I retire next month – at least until I find part-time flexible work. But, I plan to spend a few months getting my Art from the Hartt (and The Midwife’s Nursery) business going. And, camping.
Colorado wildflowers on our hike
I bought several cool daylilies last fall to celebrate semi-retirement. They did horrible – and I bought from more than 1 reliable seller, so it is on my end. I fully lost 2, and have about half the others with one struggling fan. The ones doing well are also mostly one fan, but normal size. It was a dry winter followed by a cold spring. And, I didn’t winter water. Lessons learned. Perhaps the worst part is the name labels washed off the new plants so I have no idea what I lost and what is left, but they should all still have grower labels so I will do some digging and get new labels up.
Mountain wildflowers on our hike
Here is to a new season. And, my usual premier, Saratoga Springtime. I have ~30 scapes and it is going to be 90 degrees the next few days.
Why is it that wildflowers seem so tame compared to daylilies?
I Dig The Mamas And The Papas At “The Trip, “ Sunset Strip In L.A. And They Got A Good Thing Goin’ When The Words Don’t Get In The Way.
I chuckle today at the double meaning in the old Peter, Paul and Mary song. I do dig the Mamas and the Papas – literally and figuratively. Mama Cuna and Papa Longlegs, that is. Well, hey, today they showed up on the same day so the song has been in my head all day. See the featured photo for the cultivator blooms together today.
And, all day, I have been working in the daylily garden or on my photos because another record was broken today . . . 69 cultivators in bloom. It is partially bloom rate and partially bud count. These guys are blooming for weeks instead of days. I do have other things I need to do . . . I am glad I cleaned the house before this hit!
OK, so in addition to Mama Cuna of the Mamas and Papas, I had 6 premiers today – 7 total. We are still on top of the Grand Daylily Mesa with the blooms – this high plateau is like watching COVID cases last summer – but hopefully it dies down without a real epidemic because I have altitude sickness already.
Coburg Fright Wig 7.11 – I ordered this years ago for my front garden when I was filling it out with daylilies.Fairy Tale Pink 7.11 – I believe this was a bonus several years ago. She is doing better with a drip system!Lime Frost 7.11 – I wouldn’t mind a lime frost from the 7.11 about now. She was mail order several years ago, I believe. I really need to move my daylily software to my functioning computer because it knows.Mama Cuna 7.11 – all wrapped up in the yucca. She has great big blooms.Nearly Wild 7.11 – She was a bonus and I think she got her name because she looks like her ditch lily ancestor. Purple de Oro 7.11 – A small grape colored bloom. I have never been super attached. Her pot is full of grass. Maybe I should put another mini in with her? Red Hot Returns 7.11 – A parent to Passionate Returns. Local nursery cultivator.
This is usually about the time of year when I see the peak fading and I hate my bloom rate so I head to the nursery for a couple that still have buds so I can have a few more blooms. I am not doing that this year – although there is a Ned Roberts that I may add to the collection next year. Help me, I am drowning in the Mamas and the Papas! Please, dig me out of these blooms!
So, here are the finales so far this year.
Saratoga Springtime finale 6.23Yellow Punch finale 7.4Stella finale 7.1Funny Valentine finale 7.8Petite Petticoats finale 7.10Alabama Jubilee finale 7.10Scorpio finale 6.29Mauna Loa finale 7.10Platinum Pink Pallet Whispers finale 7.2Land of Enchantment finale 7.11Apache Bandana finale 7.10Purple Moonrise finale 7.5Orchid Moonrise finale 7.8Dream Keeper finale 7.1Echo Canyon finale 7.10Comanche Princess finale 7.11NOID Big Red Rhyme finale 7.11NOID Red Riddle finale 7.9Feather Woman finale 7.11Pink and Cream finale 7.11
That is 117 in and 20 out, meaning I have 90 some actively blooming and others with premiers coming soon.
Colorado Kid Daylilies 