Tag: Saratoga Springtime

Like an Advent Calendar (sort of)

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Last blog, I compared daylilies to popcorn – starting to pop slowly, then reaching peak season.  That is a good analogy, but it is incomplete because each kernel of corn is the same basic size and color.  So, my other analogy is an advent calendar minus the religious meaning.

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Kokopelli 6/5/18

 

When I was a kid, I loved my advent calendars every year.  I have curiosity as a strength, so opening that little paper window every day was thrilling to me.  What was behind door #1, door #2 and door #3?  So, something in daylily blooms that is like opening a surprise door to see each cultivator.   Today’s doors were Kokopelli and Saratoga Springtime.

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Saratoga Springtime 6/5/18

This time of year, I hunt scapes every day.  Today, I bet I found half dozen new ones . . . Route 66, Happy Returns, a couple of mystery ones, and one from the Southwest garden (but I forgot which one).  And, last but not least, Nurse’s Stethoscope!

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Nurse’s Stethoscope scape 6/5/18

I am super jazzed about Nurse’s Stethoscope because I helped to name it!  You see, during that whole deal about “Show me your stethoscope” a few years ago, I posted the suggestion to the national daylily society Facebook page.  The hybridizer is also in healthcare – she liked the name and the next year Nurse’s Stethoscope became a registered daylily.  I held off buying her because she is new and still expensive.  But, last year, I decided she would be the last major daylily purchase (other than replacements) for my yard.  She cost $100.  I thought myself crazy, except I helped to name her.  She is my daylily legacy!  I worried all winter that the drought would kill her – and winter waterings hold some risk with freeze-thaw plant loss.  But, she turned green and got big.  Today, there they were, two beautiful scapes.  Advent calendar joy fills my heart!

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A photo of Nurse’s Stethoscope from her hybridizer’s page

Popcorn

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Daylilies remind me of popcorn.  When I was a kid, we had a metal tray with a screen over it and a handle that was our popcorn popper.  No nuking a sack for a few minutes.  No, you had a jar of corn and you poured it in with oil.  It was usually over the gas flame on the stove or fireplace.  You had to shake the popper the whole time or the popcorn would stick.  Good exercise.

Pretty soon, though, if you were persistent enough, you would hear a pop.  A few seconds later, another.  Pretty soon, the kernels are popping so fast that you can’t count them anymore.  Keep shaking that popper!  Eventually, they slow to almost a stop.  If you wait too long for the last few to pop, the whole thing burns.  It is an art, really.

In early June, the daylilies start to pop.  One cultivator at a time, the buds get bigger and bigger.  The early days are like a treasure hunt in the morning, looking to see if any popped during the night.  In a month, we will be at peak.  This honestly scares me a little, because if my bloom rate improves like I think it might, I have no clue how I will keep up with photographing them all.  It is possible I’ll have days with 100!  Crazy.  I burn more space on my memory card during daylily season than any other time all year.  Then, come mid-August, the explosion begins to settle down. It is back to treasure hunt mod, again.  Except it is usually a couple months at the slower rate.

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Dream Keeper 2018

So, today Dream Keeper came to visit.  She is another Ned Roberts spider daylily.  Her sibling (or parent?) is Dream Catcher – one of my most flourishing daylilies.  Dream Keeper bloomed early in 2016, right after I put her in, but not again since that time.  I love her orange coloring.

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Saratoga Springtime 2018

The surprise today was Saratoga Springtime.  This is her first ever bloom in my yard.  I have had her for 2 years – but she was small and I put her in not the best place.  Last summer, I moved the daylilies out of garden areas where they never bloomed.  She is now by my driveway on a solar drip system.  It seems to agree with her.  The surprise was that her pot was mislabeled and I thought she was orange flurry.  Geez, I need to get my labeling caught up soon.

I am guessing that the three that have bloomed thus far will be the early popcorn for the next week or so.  They are really the only ones ready to pop.  But . . . keep shaking because it won’t be long now.

Iridescent

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This weekend is my home weekend . . . so working on yard stuff today.  Not much new in bloom,  despite having 16 in bloom.  The half-bloomed bud fell off of Bluegrass Music 😦  But, South Seas did have a first bloom today.  I love the color combo.  It’s kind of iridescent.

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The big project of the weekend was irrigation, again.  I dug the big rain barrel that my renter had (yes, 11 years ago) and hooked it up to a solar drip system.  I know those solar drip systems get lousy ratings.  They are somewhat disposable every year.   They are a pain to get running but once they are pumping, they work pretty well for a decent amount of time.

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At first the system was just for the existing pots – Prairie Blue Eyes and Route 66.  But the barrel is kind of ugly, so I decided to put in some annuals.  I also rescued Hesperus, Saratoga Springtime, and Orange Flurry from where they were.  Too much shade, not enough water.  Curious to see if I can get blooms next year.   (If I do, I may go for a pretty barrel!)

I also put in a drip line (this one goes to the hose) for my daylilies in the edge garden.   It is going to be much easier to turn that drip hose when I do the other watering than to carry the can.  Both of the new areas are places I have thought of expanding my daylily garden to when I run out of room other places.  So, off we go with a pilot study!

For tomorrow – Maybe Bluegrass Music or Zuni Thunderbird.  Who knows what else?

Black Ice on a Summer Day

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Black ice reminds me of winter roads in Colorado.  I live rural and often have had a hefty commute to work.  Black ice is why I prefer to be off those roads by sundown.  And, it has caused me to fall on my face walking the dogs a few times, too.

Today, though, Black Ice brings positive emotion.  I love this new addition to my garden!  First bloom today.  It looks like black velvet to me.  And, it spilled pollen down it’s front peddle.  This is another Ned Roberts creation that is in my new Southwestern garden.  Black Ice may not remind everyone of the Southwest.  It does me.  I live here.

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Black Ice – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

Other blooms are Early Bird Cardinal (That yard flag in the background has a red cardinal on it and next shot, I will untangle it for the photo.  Those colors are very close!)

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Early Bird Cardinal – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

And, huge old Ruby Spider!

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Ruby Spider – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

Lastly, poor frail Electric Lizard’s last bud (for now).  I am cutting off its fans to see if it will thicken up.  I am hopeful for a couple more blooms this year.

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Electric Lizard –  Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

I have a bunch of buds that look nearly ready to bust.  Wild Horses, Mesa Verde and Saratoga Springtime look the closest.  It looks like more Black Ice is on the weather report for tomorrow (or soon), too.  I can’t wait.  It’s better than an Easter Egg hunt every morning!