Singing the Blues

July 15, 2016Leave a comment

Today, all three of my near blues (with scapes) were in bloom; Blue Beat, Mildred Mitchell, and The Colorado Kid. (Sounds like a rock band.) They have all bloomed before this year, so I highlighted them in todays garden collage. I did want to share a large view of Blue Beat before the first rays of sun hit her. Very blue-looking!

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

The other photo I really like from today is Jungle Queen. I caught the first rays of light on her pedals.

Jungle Queen – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

I had two new blooms and neither looked as healthy as I would like. Bugs, heat, water issues, etc. Who knows? They are pretty flowers and hopefully they will have their true colors shining through very soon.

Zuni Thunderbird – a neat Ned Roberts spider that I put in the new garden last fall.

Zuni Thunderbird – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

And, Inwood – a beautiful flower with a frompy first bloom.

Inwood – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

Below are the bloomers for today.

Left to Right: Top row – South Seas, The Colorado Kid, Blue Beat, Mildred Mitchell, Soco Gap. Second Row: Inwood, Jungle Queen, Mini Pearl, Purple de Oro, Early Bird Cardinal. Bottom: Zuni Thunderbird.

Before I sign off, let me just say that I am writing this blog to share my experiences being a daylily hobbiest in the desert of Western Colorado. The soil is clay, so I have learned to amend it with good soil and water crystals. They help hold the moisture in – and I had my best garlic harvest ever after adding them to the mix. However, there can always be too much of a good thing and the crystals can harbor root rot is the drainage isn’t good, The last week, Colorado Kid has been fading. Today, I threw out the rotten dirt and cleaned up the roots. Hopefully, I didn’t over correct. It’s hard for humans to get the right balance of moisture in a place where mother nature falls short. And, that is the adventure. (RIP Navajo Rodeo – I am not sure what got you but something did 😦 )

All in the Family

July 12, 2016July 12, 20161 Comment

As I typed in this title, I actually Googled to see if there is an Archie Bunker daylily. Fortunately, my search didn’t find any such flower. The title of this blog is because I want to talk about a section of my daylily garden with names from my family. Because today Stephanie Returns returned for 2016. My oldest daughter is a Stephanie, too. And, she returned to Colorado the year that I came across this cultivator at the local nursery.

Stephanie Returns – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

Following after mom, my Isaac daylily is close to a first ever bloom in my yard. Definitely tomorrow. Isaac is also my 3-year-old grandson’s name.

Isaac bud – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

Mini Pearl was my grandma’s name, and I have a daylily by the same name with scapes, also added last year. Interestingly enough, there is a daylily named Catherine Irene which is also my mom’s first and middle name. I am still waiting on that one to send scapes. I have Mayan Poppy for my granddaughter, Maia. It also has scapes. I have a couple more to add in that section – I am waiting to see what space looks like after the first year. But, it is already a very special section of my garden. Right by my front door.

Other new faces for today are Razzamatazz, a pretty little purple bloom that I have had for a couple of years.

Razzamatazz – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

All-in-all, I have 12 full blooms and a very ready-to-bloom bud of Isaac. Today, I mixed-it-up and made the collage in alphabetical order. Lots of yellows and purples today.

From L to R. Top Row: Canyon Colors, Indian Love Call, Isaac, Lady Fingers. Row Two: Mesa Verde, Mildred Mitchell, Purple De Oro, Razzamatazz, Return A Smile. Bottom Row: Ruby Spider, Soco Gap, South Seas, and Stephanie Returns.

I have had 32 different cultivators bloom so far in 2016. That is somewhere around 25% of my daylily collection. I am hoping for 50% this year, because so many are new. And, the ones for $2 often take a couple years to bloom. My long-term goal is 80% per year. Time to quite, though, cause I am thinking like a doctor. And this is my get-away time.

Daylilies @ Dusk

July 11, 2016July 11, 2016Leave a comment

I made it home to find 11 different daylily cultivators in bloom. Thing is, though, it was dusk. And, it had been a very warm day. In the 90s. So, my little friends were too burned to take good flash photography. So, I went with grainy natural lighting with some photo-fix to help.

New bloom in my Ned Roberts garden is Desert Icicle. I am hoping for a fresh one very soon! Pretty thing. Prarie Blue Eyes is on oldie but goodie in my yard. Great older daylily. And, what I think is Just Plum Happy. I hope it is in bloom tomorrow with Return a Smile so I can confirm identity. Other than that, I believe they are all returns this year. Can’t wait to see what the daylight brings.

Top row: Just Plum Happy, Canyon Colors, Margaret Mitchell, and Return a Smile. Second row: Lady Fingers, Purple De Oro, Desert Icicle, Early Bird Cardinal, Ruby Spider. Bottom row: Soco Gap and Prairie Blue Eyes.

Not Southwestern, but Native American

July 7, 2016July 7, 2016Leave a comment

I sit in a hotel so that I can attend a clinical conference the next few days. It’s going to be good, I think. Still, I hate missing daylily blooms.

Today’s featured bloom is Soco Gap. It was sent as a gift plant last fall. I had no clue what the name meant so I Googled it and found out that it does link to Native Americans. Soco Gap was a place in North Carolina where the Shawnee were defeated by the Cherokee. Therefore, it is in my Southwestern (mostly) Ned Roberts garden. It is a pretty bloom amongst the yucca plants. I like the red-orange color.

Soco Gap – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

The other new face today is Mildred Mitchell. The name reminds me a bit of Watergate, but it is really named for the hybridizers family member. It is a near blue, which was clear to my eye. It was too bright by the time I got out and it does not look blue to the camera under the sun. It is a pretty flower, just the same.

Mildred Mitchell – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

The other bloom that I will mention in the text is Return A Smile. She had blooms in her container on the porch and in the front garden. It is a division of the same plant. I am amazed by the difference that the sun exposure makes to color. It makes identification much more interesting because these guys are not color stable in bright sun.

And, my collage for today. Best day yet – that is nine blooms if you count both Return a Smile blooms. (Flowers moving clockwise from top left – Mesa Verde, Early Bird Cardinal, Primal Scream, Ruby Spider, and Lady Fingers (center).

Mesa Verde, Early Bird Cardinal, Primal Scream, Ruby Spider, and Lady Fingers – Photos by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

Can’t wait to see what is up next when I return home! I am considering finding high country flowers as I walk around this area and blogging a bit about those. I am at 9,000+ feet above sea level. And, I have empty nest for my own garden already. 🙂

And Feathered Canyons Everywhere

July 5, 2016July 5, 20161 Comment

I obviously love the Southwest. Anyone who knows my daylily collection knows that over 50% of my garden has a name that brings with it some Southwestern meaning. And, so today Canyon Colors bloomed. Like Mesa Verde, the colors are much warmer in full sunlight. I think I prefer the shade version.

It is a beautiful two-colored daylily. It, like Mesa Verde, is an evergreen. So, they both lived in my back porch all winter. They have matching containers of turquoise and are positioned near each other on a sunny corner of my house. I love them together! They compliment each other nicely . . . and I feel like I’m on a campout at the Four Corners.

So, I have this idea that all my Southwestern place named daylilies need to be superimposed on a photo of their place. With Canyon Colors, I decided to use a photo of Canyon de Chelly that I took on my road trip this spring. It is shaped a lot like Spider Rock, even though it is not a spider daylily.

Other new faces for the year 2016 were both old faces to my yard. I felt like old friends had returned when I saw Lady Fingers had opened her first two blooms. These may be the most eye-catching daylily in my yard.

Also, little Purple de Oro is back. I feel bad for this little one, because I have never taken time to get a good photo of it. So, today that was my mission. How did I do?

My Ned Roberts Southwestern garden (I call it the Yucca garden) was very quiet today. Soco Gap, however, is not going to wait more than 24 hours to show her colors for the first time in my yard. I can’t wait.

As promised, the other bloomers of today were put in a single collage to save blog space. They include Jungle Queen, Ruby Spider, Early Bird Cardinal, and Mesa Verde.

After tomorrow, I will miss a couple days of blooms while I travel for clinical hours for my doctorate. I am hoping to get out early and take photos before I leave. I need to get a webcam for each plant, I guess.

PS – I divided up my Funny Valentine so my daughter could have one. She lives across the Rockies in Colorado. She has a bloom today, and I am still waiting on scapes.

Colorado Kid Daylilies

A Blog About My Western Colorado Daylily Adventure

Tag: Soco Gap