Tag: Titan Skye

The Colorado Kid: Getting His Kicks on Route 66

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Hello Daylily Fans!

It’s hard to believe another week has passed in the daylily garden. Today, our blog mascot, The Colorado Kid, bloomed for the first time this year. And, another old favorite also came into bloom today: Route 66. I am living my road trip in the garden today.

However, today also brought another day of unhealthy smoke from the fire near Ouray, CO – the Gold Mountain Fire. The smoke makes the whole garden look like it’s in a haze in the morning. Normally, the smoke lifts as the heat comes in. Today, it didn’t lift much.

My garden in the smoke this morning. The camera doesn’t capture the haze that is up close, but it is everywhere.

What does wildfire smoke 24/7 due to daylily buds? To answer that, let’s back-up to the cause of the fires. Colorado is in a bad drought year after receiving minimal snowfall last winter and little rain during the spring or summer. Snowmelt is where Colorado gets the bulk of its water, so when there isn’t snow it creates a serious drought situation. Then, the fire season starts in the Western US because everything is too dry – and the hot, dry, windy weather arrives along with dry lightening. With the fires comes the dense blankets of smoke.

Beautiful but smoky sunset from our campground last week. This is near Blue Mesa, CO and is also smoke from the Gold Mountain Fire.

Montrose has had horrible air quality for several days since the Gold Mountain Fire started near Ouray, but there are other fires compounding the situation. (I heard today they don’t expect to get the Ouray fire entirely out until snow falls in October!) The particles in the air contain chemical vapers that can cause bud blast. They also dry out the air further. So, watching buds blast is the combined impact of the drought, the hot/dry weather, and the chemical vapers. The plant gives-up on blooming in order to save energy. It’s sad to watch the buds melt like butter.

Fortunately, many of my daylilies are blooming anyway. But, several only have 1-2 buds this year. My Southwestern Garden is the hardest hit. Because it is in the easement, it needs more fertilizer and moisture than the ones that get some help from my sprinkler system. My bloom rate out there will probably not hit 50% this year. I can’t fertilize until it cools down and we get some moisture. Sadly, that is where the bulk of my Ned Robert’s spiders are planted. Better luck next year!

Despite the barriers, the daylilies show there resilience by continuing to bloom daily. Here are my new bloomers this week:

Buttered Popcorn 7.4.26
Cheddar Cheese 7.4.26
Cherokee Star 6.30.26
Classy Lady 7.2.26
Echo Canyon 7.4.26
NOID “Fringe Benefit” 6.30.26
Hesperus 7.2.26
Irresistible Charm 6.30.26
Kachina Firecracker 7.4.26
Kiva Dancer 6.30.26
Mayan Poppy 7.2.26
Nurse’s Stethoscope 7.1.26 (only 1 bud and I missed it 😦 )
Oh, Erica 7.2.26
Pandora’s Box 7.5.26
Pick of the Litter 7.3.26
Pueblo Dreamer 7.4.26
Rosie’s Red 7.2.26
Route 66 7.6.26
Santa’s Pants 7.3.26
South Seas 7.3.26
Talon 7.2.26
The Colorado Kid 7.6.26
Titan Sky 7.2.26
Twirling Pinata 6.30.26
Wild Rose Fandango 7.4.26
Winds of Love II 7.5.26

That’s 26 new ones this week, folks! Last week I posted 34. The week before that, 18. And the first post was 9. That adds up to 87. I have about 189 total, so a 46% bloom rate. Could it be peak has come and gone already? I fear that may be true this year. When daylilies only have a few buds, the peak comes fast and dies fast. That’s a drought year pattern in the high desert.

Let’s see what the next week brings. But, even if the monsoons were to come, it is too late for the daylilies that have saved their energy to survive the drought to bloom this year.

Don’t let the smoke stop you from blooming this week,

Cathy Hartt

Please take a moment to visit my art business page, Art from the Hartt. and see what I am working on this summer. I have some great garden gnomes up for adoption!

Late June/Early July Daylily Blooms: A Peak Season Update

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July is here, and with it comes peak season. I don’t think we are quite to peak yet, but it is approaching quickly. My day starts with photographing each daylily in bloom. Then I feed dogs, irrigate, jog for an hour. When I return, I sit on the front porch and edit the photos. Then, I put them in folders online and post to my personal Facebook page. By then, it’s 2 PM and time for breakfast!

I have had a bunch of new ones since my last post. I will put them in a gallery below. I’ve had 50 new ones since my last post last week!!!

Alabama Jubilee first bloom 7.2.25
Apache Beacon first bloom 7.1.25
Baby Blue Eyes first bloom 6.27.25
Bela Lugosi first bloom 6.28.25
Blackthorn first bloom 6.28.25
Buttered Popcorn first bloom 6.29.25
Canyon Colors first bloom 6.25.25
Catherine Irene first bloom 6.24.25
Chaco Canyon first bloom 6.27.25
Chief Four Fingers first bloom 6.27.25
Chorus Line first bloom 7.2.25
Cricket Call first bloom 7.1.25
Early Bird Cardinal first bloom 6.28
Echo Canyon first bloom 7.2.25
Fine Time Lucille first bloom 7.2.25
“Fringe Benefit” (mislabeled) first bloom 6.28.25
Funny Valentine first bloom 6.24.25
Grape Smash first bloom 7.3.25
Holy Sombrero first bloom 7.3.25
Indian Love Call first bloom 6.24.25
Inwood first bloom 6.25.25
Jog On first bloom 6.27.25
Lady Fingers 6.24.25
Lime Frost 6.26.25

I have had 73 cultivators bloom so far this season out of approximately 190. I lost some last winter. I really need to update my inventory in the software program. Based on those numbers, my bloom rate is about 38% currently. My hope is for 80% this season.

Longlesson Showoff first bloom 6.24.25
Lullaby Baby first bloom 7.2.25
Mauna Loa first bloom 6.28.25
Maya Cha Cha first bloom 7.2.25
Melon Balls first bloom 6.28.25
Mount Echo Sunrise first bloom 6.26.25
Nona’s Garnet Spider first bloom 7.3.25
Nurse’s Stethoscope first bloom 6.29.25
Oh Erica first bloom 7.2.25
Ojo de Dios first bloom 6.24.25
Pandora’s Box first bloom 6.28.24
Papa Longlegs first bloom 8.29.24
Pardon Me first bloom 7.3.25
Passionate Returns first bloom 7.2.25
Pick of the Litter first bloom 7.2.25
Prairie Blue Eyes first bloom 7.3.25
Pueblo Dreamer first bloom 7.2.25
Purple Many Faces first bloom 7.3.25
Purple Moonrise first bloom 7.2.25
NOID “Purple Mystique” first bloom 6.26.25
Quilt Patch first bloom 7.2.25
Royal Palace Prince (maybe) first bloom 6.29.25
South Seas first bloom 7.2.25
Strutter’s Ball first bloom 6.27.25
Thin Man first bloom 6.27.25
Titan Skye first bloom 6.28.25

Today, the rain came. Finally! I am hoping for a good monsoon season. We need it. The drought lingers and is growing to the north. So many wildfires out west. I’m surprised that my daylilies are as happy as they are all things considered.

I adore daylily season. But it is always a lot of work that takes a chunk of the day with the photography. However, at this elevation, heat and humidity, the blooms don’t last long. Somedays, they are pretty faded by noon. They look like melted wax to me.

It’s a very different summer with my civic volunteer work. I adore my mornings on the porch editing daylily photos. Finding balance is hard in a “drought of time.”

Catcha next week. I hope your 4th of July garden brings you joy. Sometimes, we are best to focus on the small things right before our eyes and feel gratitude.

Daylily Photography: Capturing Every Bloom and Seeking Tracking System

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Today’s Fresh Faces for 2024

July is cooking! I had 6 first of the season blooms today. It is well past yellow trumpet season and the color variety is amazing. Here are today’s new blooms: Better Off Blue, Coral Taco, Echo Canyon, Nurse’s Stethoscope, Talon, and Titan Skye.

Better Off Blue
Coral Taco
Echo Canyon
Nurse’s Stethoscope
Talon
Titan Skye

Which of these do you think would make the best coaster or mini clock? Please add to comments.

A Day in the Life of a Daylily Hobbyist in July

My days during prime daylily season aren’t particularly entertaining, but they are very different than the other 10-11 months of the year. As always, the day starts with the dogs and a jog. But, somewhere in there, I go out with my cellphone and photograph a bloom from every cultivator that has one. I use to use my Canon Powershot, but as my collection grew my time shrunk. Each photo is edited and uploaded to my online photo drive. By noon-thirty, my phone battery is dying.

After that, I post to Facebook (my personal page) and then make a reel of all the first blooms of the season for Instagram. Then, I share that reel to my business IG, FB, Threads, and my story. My phone is now charging and the clock saying early afternoon..

And, then it’s time for the blog. Except for today, because I stopped to make an extra Instagram video about my Until the Last Daylily Blooms Art Sale on Etsy. So, I opened Canva to start designing a short reel and there went another hour. It does take longer because I am trying to integrate my art business, Art from the Hartt. I don’t sell daylilies because of the need for a nursery license, but I do sell daylily art. So, I do whatever I can do to support myself with my garden.

OK, so now it’s 4 o’something and it’s time for the blog. What can I choose for a topic? Something simple, because it’s late and I still have chores to do. I haven’t touched my art.

Daily Daylily Photography

So, let’s talk about daylily photography. Why do I take a photo of every cultivator that’s blooming every day? Maybe I am just an anal retentive retired nurse who is use to taking vital signs every shift. Only through monitoring the norm can we spot trouble coming. Maybe because I am an artist and I use my photography to make art – the more photos I have, the better chance of capturing cool things like this Nurse’s Stethoscope daylily painting. Maybe it is because the sun is so intense in the high desert that my blooms are melted by early afternoon and I’m not ready to let go.

Looking for a Daily Bloom Tracking System

What I am looking for is an app or software where I can track which cultivators are in bloom every day. I don’t need more hybridization software because I love PlantStep. I want a chart of what is in bloom each day. Ah, this is the anal retentive nurse coming out. But really – I would like to ask my readers if they know of a charting system where I can input the daylily names and put a checkmark each day (like a calendar) that it blooms – then run a report at the end. It would be cool to have a photo of each – but you would only need 1 photo for the year.

I monitor a lot by photographing each day, but I can’t use the data as well as I could with a better system of daily daylily tracking. I appreciate any ideas from readers!

Until The Last Daylily Blooms Art Sale on Etsy

What happens to all those photos? Mostly, they are stored. The inspirational ones, however, can become art! Daylily art was my first dive into painting many years ago and I still adore making art from my daylilies.

I have lots of wall art, clocks, cards, and painted pots available for sale this summer – literally until my last daylily blooms. Last year, that was the day before Halloween. So, while the sale lists an end date in November, it will actually end at midnight 24 hours after my last daylily blooms. If we are lucky enough to be blooming in late October, my art is 50% off! The Instagram (above) has the sale dates and percentages off. Please visit my Etsy store and check it out.

Open My Eyes on October 27th, 2023. She bloomed again the 29th and the bloom was hit with freezing rain. She lost her other buds.

PS – The time is now 5:55 PM and I am about to hit publish.