Skinwalker adorned my yard with its last bloom for 2016.  My Ned Roberts and Southwestern named daylily garden is off to a good start.  I had 10 blooms out of that garden this year.  There are 50 or so cultivators out there.  More on that in a minute.

Other late bloomers were Apache Uprising.  I think I have one more bud to go.

And, Yella Stella.  She has a brand new scape, so I am still hopeful to make it to freeze. Plus, Red Hot Returns (sounds like a political statement to me) and Heirloom Heaven have still not bloomed.  Heirloom Heaven is a ways off, too, from the scape size.  September?

OK, so back to my Ned Roberts garden.  I carefully built it over spring break, moving buckets of rocks and pebbles that had been there for decades.  Then, I dug down deeper, a few inches down into the clay soil.  And, I added the brick border.   I then filled it with good soil and water crystals.  Then, I planted the daylilies.

Now, the earth has settled and the roots are too close to the clay for best production, me thinks.  Tomorrow, I gently lift each cultivator up, hopefully without totally dislodging roots, and I fill in with compost, manure, peat, and more good dirt.  Back up to the top of the bricks.  And, then re-mulch it.  Optimistically, that boosts the year two bloom.  I think garden spaces take a while to be fertile.  It took my garlic patch a few seasons.  Good dirt rocks!