Purple T-bird

No, I don’t mean a wild looking old car.

Purple T-Bird Car (google images)

This was a camping weekend – and, like it or not, the last weekend before school starts. I had a frightening encounter with a drunk driver on the ride home. Not awful, but it coulda been.

Purple Thunderbird 8.2.20

We got home early afternoon. With temps in the 90s with high UV, my blooms were pretty weathered by the time I took pictures. I had one premier – Purple Thunderbird. That leaves only a couple of Roberts premier spiders to bloom in 2020. Purple Thunderbird is a big flower. Her scapes are short in my yard, though.

Navajo Grey Hills 8.2.20

I also noticed that the weathered coloring makes Navajo Grey Hills look, well, grey. She is decidedly purple in the morning.

Shape Shifter 8.2.20

I ordered my first round of improved pots. I need to get soil and manure for the transfers. Might start next weekend and work around those still in bloom – a number that dwindles daily.

July’s Colorful Parade

Are you ready for a beautiful July parade? Here goes – a listing of all of my daylilies that had first blooms in July. I count 81. Enjoy!

Apache Bandana 7.6.20
Autumn Jewels 7.22.20
Aztec Firebird 7.22.20
Baja 7.18.20
Bela Lugosi 7.22.20
Bella Boo 7.6.20
Black Arrowhead 7.19.20
Black Eyed Susan 7.2.20
Black Ice 7.22.20
Bold Tiger 7.26.20
Carlotta 7,30.20
Cheddar Cheese 7.4.20
Cherokee Star 7.6.20
Chokecherry Mountain 7.20.20
Chorus Line 7.29.20
Classy Lady 7.29.20
Coyote Laughs 7.17.20
Cripple Creek 7.29.20
Dancing Maiden 7.20.20
Desert Icicle 7.30.20
Dream Catcher 7.28.20
El Desperado 7.30.20
Fairy Tale Pink 7.22.20
Fine Time Lucille 7.19.20
Fooled Me 7.6.20
Frans Hals 7.22.20
Fringe Benefit 7.21.10
Glen Eyrie 7.29.30
Golden Eclipse 7.30.20
Happy Hopi 7.3.20
Heirloom Heaven 7.30.20
Heron’s Cove 7.3.1
Hesperus 7.29.30
Holy Sombrero 7.3.20
Hopi Jewel 7.17.1
Iktomi 7.30.20
Indian Giver 7.2.20
Indian Sky 7.28.20
Just Plum Happy 7.16.1
Kachina Firecracker 7.30.20
Kiva Dancer 7.4.20
Lacy Doily 7.7.1
Lime Frost 7.16.20
Lobo Lucy 7.21.20
Longlesson Showoff 7.20.20
Mama Cuna 7.22.20
Marque Moon 7.21.20
Maya Cha Cha 7.22.20
Navajo Grey Hills 7.30.20
Nona’s Garnet Spider 7.28.20
Nosferatu 7.27.20
Orange Flurry 7.26.20
Orange Vols 7.28.20
Painted Petroglyph 7.21.20
Papa Longlegs 7.16.20
Pardon Me 7.17.20
Passionate Returns 7.17.20
Prairie Wildfire 7.2.20
Prelude to Love 7.27.20
Purple de Oro 7.4.20
Raspberry Propeller 7.17.20
Raven Woodsong 7.18.20
Red Hot Returns 7.17.20
Red Mystery 7.17.20
Route 66 7.5.20
Royal Palace Prince 7.30.20
Ruby Stella 7.30.20
Shape Shifter 7.22.20
Skinwalker 7.29.20
Soco Gap 7.5.20
South Seas 7.17.20
Spirit of the Morning 7.27.20
Moon over Chimayo 7.20.20
Stephanie Returns 7.19.20
Taco Twister 7.21.20
Talon 7.27.20
Thin Man 7.4.20
Treasure of the Southwest 7.30.20
Twirling Pinata 7.29.20
Winds of Love 7.19.20
Zuni Thunderbird 7.22.20

Orange

My daylily counts are dropping into the teens. It’s OK, because I get kinda burned out with the camera this time of year. At peak, the battery needs to be recharged twice a week.

Orange Vols 7.28.20

I hit 130 different cultivaters for the year today with one of my most orange daylilies of the whole bunch. The orange is so deep and so saturated – it looks like my mural paint that is deep orange with a little yellow stirred in that shows up here and there. I do not know for sure which daylily this is because I put in in with the landscaping before I was paying much attention to names. Someone on a daylily page said it looked like Orange Vols – and it does, so I am going with that name.

Shape Shifter 7.28.20

Unbloomed scapes on not-yet-bloomed cultivators are down to a handful. Maybe 5 or 6. I might get an August scape or two – although often I don’t. That puts us at about 80%. Not low 90s like after the rainy spring last year, but not the 60’s I got before the pots and drip system. Speaking of pots, I have some nice ones for the buried Southwest garden in my Target online cart waiting for payday. I think if I do 20 a month – August, Sept, Oct – that is 60. I have 75 in that garden – some still need to be dug out of the mud, clay and roots, too – takes time. Probably 20 or so left to dig up that aren’t in cheep pots. I could leave them for spring.

Dream Catcher 7.28.20

Fall chores take over my brain. Soon, I trade my camera for a shovel.

Change of Shift

Change of shift is obviously when one group goes home and another one takes over. Well, since I left on vacation last Wednesday, I have had a lot of premiers and finales. I am not sure how many of each – but I do know that I have 44 in bloom today and 21 are new since I pulled out on my trip.

Rifle Falls State Park, CO

I had about 400 trip photos to go through, so I haven’t had time much time to count finales. I do know I missed at least one and others I only saw one bloom.

Wild Mustang in the Sand Wash Basin, CO

Was it worth it? Oh, yea – Colorado is beautiful and it is good to get out of town. Of course, the downside is that I now worry about COVID. Oh, I masked and carried hand sanitizer everywhere – around my neck. That said, there are a lot of people wondering around Colorado and our cases are on the rise.

Rocky Mountain National Park, CO
State Forest State Park, CO

I’ve now had about 104 bloom (+/-) so we are at a 61% bloom rate. I’d like to get to 80%, but we will see. I am just going to list the 21 new bloomers (Premiers) in alphabetic order:

Black Arrowhead 7.17.20
Cripple Creek 7.17.20
Dancing Maiden 7.17.20
Dream Catcher 7.17.20
Fine Time Lucille 7.17.20
Glen Eyrie 7.17.20
Hesperus 7.17.20
Longlesson Show-off 7.17.20
Mama Cuna 7.17.20
Marque Moon 7.17.20
Painted Petroglyph and her sad, bug eaten bloom 7.17.20
Prelude to Love 7.17.20
Raspberry Propeller 7.17.20
Red Hot Returns 7.17.20
Red Mystery 7.17.20
Ruby Stella 7.17.20
Shape Shifter 7.17.20
South Seas 7.17.20
Spirit of the Morning 7.17.20
Taco Twister 7.17.20
Zuni Thunderbird 7.17.20

With 44 in bloom, I am still at peak. We will see what tomorrow brings . . .

Flowers for Maia

Today is my granddaughter, Maia’s, birthday.  I limit my words on the anniversary of her birth.  Honestly, there are no words for all I feel about her

Adios8.22.1.jpg

Adios Albuquerque 8.22

I will say I had a nice bouquet for her today.  And, I wanted to see if my computer would run smoother on WordPress tonight.  The blog post I did yesterday crashes the app on my phone . . . I don’t know why.

FoxEars8.22.1.jpg

Fox Ears 8.22

Anyway – enjoy Maia’s flowers. The featured photo is Maya Cha Cha – not in bloom today but a great tribute to my beautiful granddaughter.

FransHals8.22.1.jpg

Frans Hals 8.22

PS – Blogging is a bit easier with this new Lenova 300e tonight – but there is still something funky about Microsoft Edge and WordPress.  Is it just me?

HeirloomHeaven8.22.1.jpg

Heirloom Heaven 8.22

MamaCuna8.22.1.jpg

Mama Cuna 8.22

PurpleCornDancer8.22.2.jpg

Purple Corn Dancer 8.22

CrippleCreek8.22.1.jpg

Cripple Creek 8.22

 

 

ShapeShifter8.22.1.jpg

Shape Shifter 8.22

RubyStella8.22.1

Ruby Stella 8.22

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tired

It’s crazy – I had 13 cultivators in bloom today. Hello . . . It’s August 20th. The weather is now acting like desert weather. Hot and dry. It was in the 90s today.

Purple Corn Dancer 8.20

It’s been a year tomorrow since my surgery. After that, I could not be in the sun for a few months, so the blog just stopped . . . Until the poinsettias bloomed. I only had Purple Corn Dancer in bloom, anyway. Healing was a journey.

Purple Thunderbird 8.20

I never know what to think this time of year. Tired of the heat but dreading the cold, dark seasons ahead. Tired of my camera but don’t want to miss the late bloomers. Hate to see camping season end but ready for some mellow hikes around home. I think my daylilies are in a similar place with life right now – still blooming but longing for a rest.

Cripple Creek 8.20

PS – I ordered my new 2 in one laptop. My old one was tired, too.

Shape Shifter 8.20

Purple Grasshopper 8.20

Indian Sky 8.20

Orange Flurry 8.20

El Desperado 8.20

Chaco Canyon 8.20

Coberg Fright Wig 8.20

Ruby Stella 8.20

Frans Hals 8.20

Chaos and Routine

The school year feels like it has started. The new faculty are awesome. Eventually, the routine will settle in, but the chaos takes time to run its course.

Indian Sky 8.19

And, as that happens, the daylilies thin. I have maybe 18 cultivators with buds. Probably about 100 buds. It’s hot, some of them are too thirsty. I lost a few this week.

Shape Shifter 8.19

I start to think about fall chores. Should I put a drip system in the front garden? I need to fix some things in the Southwest garden.

Purple Grasshopper 8.19

By the time the final grades come in, we will be talking about Santa Claus. And, my poor poinsettias. Why aren’t they growing faster. I usually start forcing the first ones about now. I have 2 of 6 that are blooming size. Maybe I need to up their water? Why did 2 grow big?

Frans Hals 8.19

And, my amaryllis have bloomed more this summer than last winter. I had 4 blooms this summer, though my seeds haven’t sprouted.

Navajo Curls 8.19

Fall and winter start to occupy my mind. Air plant decorating . . . They look cool in with cactus, which gives me all sorts of ideas.

Cripple Creek 8.19

For now, I need to focus on this week. Looks like I need a new computer. Sigh. I’m hoping Santa can still afford to bring me a new camera for Christmas.

Heirloom Heaven 8.19

50 Startling Southwest Spider Daylilies!

Only 40 something daylilies today and no Premiers.  So, it leaves time to talk about some of my daylily categories.  I have talked a lot about my Ned Roberts spiders.  I originally started collecting them after seeing Kokopelli on the Lily Auction – I love the Southwest and had to have her (I got the bid)!  From there, I added more = lots more.  At first, it was all fully Southwest names.  Then, I gathered some animal and insect names to my Ned collection.  And, some stellar names.  IDK, is Dancing Maiden a name from the Southwest?

So, tonight, I will show you my purely Southwest named daylilies – the obvious names from the Southwest.  But, first, Mildred Mitchell had an extra petal today – a genetic flaw that made her look pretty cool.

MildredMitchell7.31.1.jpg

 

OK – Here are my Southwest Ned Roberts spiders. (These are the ones that have bloomed the last two years.  Mostly this year, except Kokopelli did not bloom this year – which is unusual).

Adios7.31.1

Adios Albuquerque – 2019

ApacheBandana7.15.1.jpg

Apache Bandana – 2019

ApacheBeacon7.25.1

Apache Beacon – 2019

AztecFirebird7.23.1.jpg

Aztec Firebirds – 2019

BlackArrowhead7.30.2

Black Arrowhead – 2019

ChacoCanyon7.15.1.jpg

Chaco Canyon – 2019

CheyenneEyes7.21.1.jpg

Cheyenne Eyes – 2019

ChiefFourFingers7.2.1

Chief Four Fingers – 2019

ChokecherryMountain7.28.1

Chokecherry Mountain – 2019

ComanchePrincess7.27.1.jpg

Comanche Princess – 2019

CoralTaco7.24.1

Coral Taco – 2019

DesertIcicle7.25.2

Desert Icicle

DreamCatcher7.27.1

Dream Catcher

facebook_1564639533959

Echo Canyon – 2019

FeatherWoman7.27.1

Feather Woman – 2019

GhostRanch6.29..1

Ghost Ranch – 2019

GlenEyrie7.29.2

Glen Eyrie – 2019

HappyHopi7.31.2

Happy Hopi – 2019

Iktomi7.26.1.jpg

Iktomi – 2019

KachinaFirecracker7.30.1

Kachina Firecracker – 2019

Kokopelli6.3.5.JPG

Kokopelli – 2018

LandofEnchantment7.13.1.jpg

Land of Enchantment – 2019

LaughingFeather7.21.1.jpg

Laughing Feather – 2019

MamaCuna7.27.2.jpg

Mama Cuna – 2019

MayaChaCha7.25.1.jpg

Maya Cha Cha – 2019

MedicineFeather7.15.1.jpg

Medicine Feather – 2019

MountEchoSunrise7.22.1

Mount Echo Sunrise – 2019

NavajoCurls7.24.1.jpg

Navajo Curls – 2018

NavajoGreyHills7.27.1.jpg

Navajo Grey Hills – 2019

NavajoRodeo7.25.1

Navajo Rodeo – 2019

OjodeDios7.24.1

Ojo de Dios – 2019

O

PinkEnchlada7.21.1.jpg

Pink Enchalada – 2019

PinkRainDance7.14.1

Pink Rain Dance – 2019

PurpleCornDancer7.25.2.jpg

Purple Corndancer – 2018

PurpleManyFaces7.25.2.jpg

Purple Many Faces – 2019

PurpleThunderbird7.30.2

Purple Thunderbird – 2019

SantaFeChristmas7.25.1.jpg

Santa Fe Christmas

ShapeShifter7.31.1.jpg

Shape Shifter – 2019

SkinWalker7.25.1

Skinwalker – 2019

SpiritoftheMorning7.30.1.jpg

Spirit of the Morning – 2019

StarOverMilagro7.26.1.jpg

Star Over Milagro – 2019

TacoTwister7.28.1

Taco Twister – 2019

Talon7.28.1

Talon – 2019

TruchasSunrise7.31.3.jpg

Truchas Sunrise – 2019

TwirlingPinata7.22.1.jpg

Twirling Pinata – 2018

WildRoseFandago7.16.1.jpg

Wild Rose Fandango – 2019

ZuniEye7.22.1.jpg

Zuni Eye – 2019

Zuni7.26.2.jpg

Zuni Thunderbird – 2019

 

Dusky Daylilies: (when your plane lands at 7:50 PM)

What a long day. I started at 6:30 AM ET and it’s now tomorrow ET. But, I’m back on MT. And, I’ve been home since 8 PM MT. It’s the time of year where there is still a little light. So, of course, I raced to take daylily photos. Not the best photography AND the poor flowers have had a long day, too. I had 72 cultivators today – it’s another record breaker.

I’m just do Premiers because I’m fading, too.

Ruby Stella 7/20

Wild Horses 7/20

Mayan Poppy 7/20

Chorus Line 7/20

Nosferatu 7/20

Red Bird Mary

Star over Milgro 7/20

Skinwalker 7/20

Lobo Lucy 7/20

Santa Fe Christmas 7/20

Dream Catcher 7/20

Spirit of the Morning 7/20

Shape Shifter 7/20

Desert Icicle 7/20

A Celebration of Spiders! (Ned Roberts)

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:

ChorusLine8.5.1.jpg

Chorus Line 8.5

RosiesRed8.6.1.jpg

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:

AdiosAlbuquerque7.23.2.jpg

Adios Albuquerque

ApacheBandana6.29.1.jpg

Apache Bandana

AztecFirebird7.8.1.jpg

Aztec Firebird

BlackArrowhead7.2.4.jpg

Black Arrowhead

BlackIce6.28.3.jpg

Black Ice

ChacoCanyon7.5.1.jpg

Chaco Canyon

CheyenneEyes6.25.1.jpg

Cheyenne Eyes

ChokeCherry7.6.1.jpg

Chokecherry Mountain

ComanchePrincess6.17.1

Comanche Princess

DesertIcicle7.15.1.jpg

Desert Icicle

DreamCatcher7.13.2.jpg

Dream Catcher

DreamKeeper6.6.2.JPG

Dream Keeper

FoxEars7.12.2.jpg

Fox Ears

HappyHopi7.13.1.jpg

Happy Hopi

Iktomi7.6.3.jpg

Iktomi

KachinaFirecracker7.6.2.jpg

Kachina Firecracker

Kokopelli6.3.1.JPG

Kokopelli

LaughingFeather6.19.3.jpg

Laughing Feather

ManaCuna7.13.1

Mama Cuna

MoonOverChimayo7.16.1.jpg

Moon Over Chimayo

NavajoCurls7.23.6.jpg

Navajo Curls

NavajoRodeo7.15.1.jpg

Navajo Rodeo

PapaLongLegs6.30.3.jpg

Papa Longlegs

PinkRainDance6.25.1

Pink Rain Dance

PuebloDancer6.26.1.jpg

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

PurpleCornDancer8.5.2.jpg

Purple Corn Dancer

PurpleGrasshopper7.12.1.jpg

Purple Grasshopper

PurpleManyFaces6.20.2.jpg

Purple Many Faces

PurpleMoonrise7.27.3.jpg

Purple Moonrise

PurpleThunderbird7.19.11.jpg

Purple Thunderbird

RaspberryPropeller7.28.2.jpg

Raspberry Propeller

Raven7.4.3.jpg

Raven Woodsong

RockyMountainPals6.29.1.jpg

Rocky Mountain Pals

SanteFeChristmas7.15.1.jpg

Santa Fe Christmas

ShapeShifter7.6.1.jpg

Shape Shifter

Skinwalker7.19.1.jpg

Skinwalker

TacoTwister7.11.1.jpg

Taco Twister

Talon6.29.3.jpg

Talon

TwirlingPinata7.28.1.jpg

Twirling Pinata

WildRose7.4.2.jpg

Wild Rose Fandango

ZuniEye6.18.1.jpg

Zuni Eye

ZuniThunderbird7.10.7.jpg

Zuni Thunderbird

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

CoralTaco1.8.17.jpg

Coral Taco 2017

GlenEyrie1.7.5.jpg

Glen Eyrie

PinkEnchilada1.7.4.jpg

Pink Enchilada 2017

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

ChiefFourFingers23.7.3.jpg

Chief Four Fingers 2016

GhostRanch13.7.29.jpg

Ghost Ranch

WindsofLove6.6.28.jpg

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

Apache Beacon

coyote laughs

Coyote Laughs

Cricket Call

Cricket Call

cripple creek2.jpg

Cripple Creek

Dancing Maiden

Dancing Maiden

Echo Canyon_jpg

Echo Canyon

Feather Woman

Feather Woman

Golden Eclipse

Golden Eclipse

Kachina Firecracker.jpg

Kachina Dancer

Kiva Dancer

Kiva Dancer

Land of Enchantment.jpg

Land of Enchantment

Maya Cha Cha

Maya Cha Cha

Medicine Feather

Medicine Feather

Mount Echo Sunrise

Mount Echo Sunrise

Navajo Grey Hills

Navajo Grey Hills

Ojo de Dios

Ojo de Dios

 

Orchid Moonrise

Orchid Moonrise

PuebloDancer.JPG

The Real Pueblo Dancer

Spirit of the Morning

Spirit of the Morning

Star over Milagro

Star over Milagro

Truchas Sunrise.JPG

Truchas Sunrise

Wildwood Flower

Wildwood Flower

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