Too much going on in life to focus on anything too long. I get the watering done daily, though. Blogging comes second, but I made time today because . . . (drum roll) – I have my first Ned Roberts Spiders in bloom today. The yellow trumpets have company – true colors shining through! Dream Keeper is a reliable early bloomer. I am a little surprised that Purple Grasshopper is one of the first in the Southwest Garden. It didn’t bloom at all last summer but seems to have profited from being put in a put with new soil and no tree roots.
BTW – My plants are noticeably bigger this year after they were moved last year. I am hoping that results in more blooms this year. Here are the blooms of the day:
Premiers for Today
Dream Keeper 6.11.21
Purple Grasshopper 6.11.21
Former Premiers (this year):
Saratoga Springtime – Premier Bloom 6.3.11 (this photo was taken 2 days ago)
Happy Returns premier bloom 6.6.21
Stella de Oro – Premier bloom 6.7.21
Follow our NEW! Art and Nature from the Hartt blog page, where I will be selling plants and nature/Southwest artwork. There will be daylilies and daylily art for sale!
The daylily blooms started last week on the 4th. IDK why I haven’t posted. Lots going on. Semi retiring, starting a plant and art business, still busy at my day job (now part time).
Saratoga Springtime 6.11.21
Saratoga Springtime started it all, as usual. She is pretty flashy for a yellow Trumpet. And, big.
Stella de Oro and Happy Returns also made appearances this week. They are look-alikes. Happy is a little more fragile.
Stella de Oro 6.11.21
My new business is Art and Nature from the Hartt. I’m planning to sell some daylily plants this fall. I’ll also have daylily art for sale. I’ll post a link to my site below. Please consider following us for updates.
Last year, I posted all my blooms each week on Sunday since it is too much to do daily. This year, I am going to try to do a recap at the end of the month. So, for June 2020, we had the following 50:
All American Chief 6.26.20Blue Beat 6.2020Canyon Colors 6.19.20Catherine Irene 6.28.20Chaco Canyon 6.25.20Cheyenne Eyes 6.30.20Comanche Princess 6.29.20Coral Taco 6.30.20Dream Keeper 6.7.20Early Bird Cardinal 6.29.20Echo Canyon 6.29.20Funny Valentine 6.19.20Happy Returns 6.21.20Hopi Jewel 6.28.20Indian Love Call 6.25.20Inwood 6.24.20Jungle Queen 6.21.20Kachina Dancer 6.30.20Kokopelli 6.25.20Lady Fingers 6.30.20Land of Enchantment 6.20.20Laughing Feather 6.26.20Mauna Loa 6.28.20Mesa Verde 6.28.20Mildred Mitchell 6.24.20Mini Pearl 6.28.20Mount Echo Sunrise 6.30.20Name Unknown “Nosferatwo” 6.25.20Nurse’s Stethoscope 6.22.20Ojo de Dios 6.28.20Petite Petticoats 6.24.20Pink and Cream 6.24.20Pink Enchilada 6.30.20Pink Rain Dance 6.29.20Prairie Blue Eyes 6.29.20Primal Scream 6.30.20Purple Many Faces 6.25.20Return a Smile 6.25.20Rocky Mountain Pals 6.29.20Ruby Spider 6.24.20Santa’s Pants 6.28.20Saratoga Springtime 6.18.20Golden Stella de Oro 6.18.20Yellow Stella de Oro 6.28.20The Colorado Kid 6.24.20Thin Man 6.30.30Wild Horses 6.29.20Wineberry Candy 6.28.20Yellow Punch 6.19.20
I will say one thing positive about the pandemic is that I have spent a lot more time in my yard and patio doing projects that I have wanted to do for some time.
Dream Keeper 6.21.20
So, today I extended my side yard drip system to the upper part of my front flower bed. I am guessing there are 50 plants in that area – so it took a chunk of time. I was nervous to hook it up, but it works fine. My sprinkler system is great for the lawn, but not for the flower pots. It is just not enough. So . . . I will come back to drip systems in a minute.
Mauna Loa 6.21.20
First, I had several premiers. Mauna Loa is a pretty Ned Roberts daylily that I added last year. It is one of his older ones, but the color is still vibrant.
Petite Petticoats 6.21.20
One of my minis, Petite Petticoats, gave me a premier bloom today, too. I seriously almost missed her in a big bucket of minis.
Purple Many Faces 6.21.20
Purple Many Faces showed her face for the first time in 2020 today. Another colorful Roberts cultivator.
Return a Smile 6.21.20
Oh, and sweet Return a Smile. She was one of my very first daylilies and always makes me smile.
So, that is it for premiers today. Likely, this week, I will shift to premiers only. I have a couple honorable mentions today. I had 4 premiers this week that didn’t open right the first time. Now, they are back with their normal beauty – Kokopelli, Land of Enchantment, Jungle Queen, and Mildred Mitchell.
Kokopelli 6.21.20Land of Enchantment 6.21.20Jungle Queen 6.21.20Mildred Mitchell 6.21.20
OK, back to the drip system. Last year, I put one in on the front part of the bed I did today. Again, it had a lot of plants and I was new at doing drip systems other than it a short line. So, I did it the same, and needless to say, the drippers at the end did not have enough pressure.
Funny Valentine 6.21.20Indian Love Call
I decided to research it and you need to put the line in a continuous circle – so both the start and end of the tube connect to the tap. Earlier this spring, I went back and fixed the front so it worked correctly. And, I am seeing a difference in the plant health – we will see on bloom rate. So far, Stella is much happier. And, my poinsettias are in heaven!
Mesa Verde 6.21.20Ojo de Dios 6.21.20
I don’t have either of the newer drippers on a timer – other than my brain. It is still a lot easier to crank the hose and do something else for 30-60 minutes that haul water to all those pots.
Saratoga Springtime 6.21.20Happy Returns 6.21.20
I am wondering if peak will happen before my trip in 2.5 weeks. I know it will be busy with blooms. I just need to get away and have an adventure.
Today, I woke-up late because I worked until midnight on a supply list for one of our new programs. It is busy on top of COVID-19 – the world of nursing academics is and will stay upside-down.
Blue Beat 6.19.20
I was foggy . . . but when consciousness returned, I realized it was Juneteenth. I knew nothing about Juneteenth until I lived in Galveston and read a book by the same name. It is a day worth remembering.
Dream Keeper 6.19.20
We live in a world that seems shaken by so much right now. But, I am free to go out in my yard and take photos of the 13 bloomers of the day. All are different colors, and I treat each the same. I am free to write the blog. I can put just about anything I want in this blog – that is freedom. I can be a crazy daylily lady – that is freedom.
Funny Valentine 6.19.20
The other cool thing about today is that my Nurse’s Stethoscope daylily bloomed her premier bloom. She is the one I suggested the name for through the Daylily Society. She is named for the Show Me Your Stethoscope episode of the View. Maybe COVID-19 has helped the world understand all of the capabilities of my profession.
Nurse’s Stethoscope 6.19.20
I had a few other premiers – I do believe the peak is beginning to build. Canyon Colors had a premier bloom today. There is so much grass in her put that she didn’t put out many scapes. I was going to replant her in March, but couldn’t get out to buy the soil before she got too big.
Canyon Colors 6.19.20
Indian Love Call had a nice first bloom. She is loaded with buds.
Indian Love Call 6.19.20
Land of Enchantment had a premier bloom that looks almost as beat-up as Kokopelli did yesterday. I think it is bud damage from the big windstorm a couple weeks ago.
Land of Enchantment 6.19.20
It is Friday, summer solstice is tomorrow. It just feels like a significant day.
Happy Returns 6.19.20
My flowers today are dedicated to those who don’t know the same freedoms that I have known. And, they are dedicated to the frontline workers during COVID-19 – my Nurse’s Stethoscope seems to say “thanks” to my colleagues.
Laughing Feather 6.19.20
It’s my home weekend tomorrow. A few things planned around the yard. Solstice . . . Summer Solstice. And, I get a little sad knowing that the days will start shrinking, again.
Mesa Verde 6.19.20
Enjoy the show below . . . almost time to limit to just premier blooms in the daily blog.
Yellow trumpet daylilies are like appetizers before a 6 course meal. They let you know that the season is coming but leave you wanting more. It always feels like I get 2 weeks of yellow trumpets, and then the action starts. Somehow, colorful spider Dream Keeper shows up with the yellow trumpets – ahead of her time.
Dream Keeper triplets 6.16.20
So, today I had some colorful premier blooms. First, Funny Valentine. She is an older daylily that I keep on my porch. She budded at the same time as Saratoga Springtime, so I have been waiting for her appearance on stage.
Funny Valentine’s Day 6.16.20
And, another Robert’s spider joins Dream Keeper as a premier today – Ojo de Dios. I love the stately color combo of this neatly curled spider.
Ojo de Dios premiers on 6.16.20
And, my first near-blue for 2020 gave a premier showing – Blue Beat!
Blue Beat 6.16.20
And, there are still yellow trumpets blaring out their tune – Stella de Oro – the most popular trumpet in town.
Stella de Oro 6.16.20
Happy Returns, who looks almost like a twin to Stella this year.
Happy Returns 6.16.20
And, Saratoga Springtime.
Saratoga Springtime 6.16.20
I think there will be more premiers tomorrow. Laughing Feather is close . . . so close. And, I am up to about 100 cultivators in scape. Hopefully, peak happens before my camping road trip next month. I just extended by a day.
Wow – no blog since Thursday. Why? First – it is pretty much the same 4 bloomers off and on every day. Second – it is camping season and still busy at work. I blog about my travel on my on another blog – so I just didn’t have time for both last night.
Dream Keeper 6.15.20
Where are my other blooms? Well, last year, I was behind this year with bloom rate. But it was rainy and my overall bloom rate was the highest ever. But, the year before that was an exceptional drought and I already had several more cultivators in bloom, but a lower overall bloom rate for the season.
My only premier since last post: Happy Returns 6.15.20
My theory is easy – the rain is the stimulant to form scapes and decide to bloom for another year. It happens in March and April, the rain. I can water, but in a desert, I can’t keep up with mom nature. When it finally warms up, there are lots of scapes ready to ascend into full blooms.
Saratoga Springtime 6.15.20
Drought years tend to warm-up quickly. So, those daylilies that did form scapes because they did OK on less rain emerge earlier due to the daily temps. But, overall, there are fewer scapes that formed because of less moisture in March and April.
Stella de Oro 6.15.20
This year, we are somewhere in between. I have 85 in scape now – about half. I always start to worry if I don’t see scapes by late June – perhaps this cultivator needs a year off.
Yellow Punch 6.15.20
I have several that look ready to pop. Laughing Feather, Ojo de Dios, Mesa Verde, Funny Valentine to name a few. I guess I need to wait until tomorrow to see what opens up. For tonight, you get four nights of blog for the price of one read. Soon, I won’t be able to do that and stay caught-up.
It is an expression about horses – rode hard and put away wet means running a horse so hard that it sweats. Well, looking at my daylilies today, the expression came to mind. The Derecho followed by 2 more days of intense wind – then down to near freezing last night – that is a lot to ask of a daylily. And, the foliage is bent and after two days of dust bowl wind, the last rain was “dirty” so to speak. So, my leaves have a little debris on them.
Dream Keeper after the storm 6.9.20
I still had 4 blooms today. I think Dream Keeper looks so sad and faded today after the storm.
Dream Keeper before the storm 6.7.20 – see the color difference?
And, Saratoga Springtime broke a petal.
Saratoga Springtime – After the storm 6.9.20
Stella, and her cousin, Yellow Punch (a primier bloom today) look pretty normal. Except the buds (other than Saratoga Springtime) did not fully open until this afternoon about 2 PM. It is a clear sign that blooms are partially heat driven.
Stella – 6.9.20
What’s close – IDK, maybe Funny Valentine. I do have close to 70 scapes now. The wind is gone, like a case of Corona Virus is gone. And, it gets up to 75 tomorrow.
Yellow Punch with a first bloom 6.9.20
Oh, and my poinsettias are OK. Poinsettias will die if you expose them to temps under 50 in the winter, but I have found that during growing season, they are much more resilient.
What can I say, Stella was my only Solstice bloom. In 2015, I had only a handful of daylilies and only 1 flowers. This is usually the start of peak. Now, today, we are camping and the wintry mix has rained down upon us.
The contrast seems odd. Last year we had the exceptional drought. Blooms were early because of the warm, dry winter. I winter watered my daylilies once a month. Some buds dried up before they opened.
Stella de Oro, June 6, 2019
This year, winter was long, cold and wet. It warmed up in March, but got cold, again. I lost El Desperado – my big, thriving El Desperado. Nurse’s Stethoscope is struggling. I lost Ghost Ranch. Other daylilies have bigger that average foliage. It’s weird that I lost more with rain than without. We are 200% or something of the average snowpack.
Saratoga Springtime, June 9, 2019
So, blooms are late and scapes are slow to appear. I don’t feel as geared up for my daily daylily blog as usual. Maybe it’s because I have a new job that is a better match, but I’m leading a major transition. So, that and sick dogs, have been my focus.
Dream Keeper, June 11, 2019
But, nature doesn’t care. Summer temps are starting the last couple of weeks, and I’ve had 3 daylily blooms. Stella de Oro was the first. She started scapes at the usual time and then winter returned. She slowly but surely persisted. Other bloomers are Saratoga Springtime and Dream Keeper.
Oh, and my amaryllis finally bloomed after 5 years!
I have more scapes this week, but nothing else on the verge of blooming. So, my blog will have a slow start, just like the spring did.
Colorado Kid Daylilies 