Hallson Gardens

Is there a rule of thumb about the percentage of open pollinated hosta being self-pollinated? I am sure that this is affected by several factors such as whether the variety has viable or low fertility pollen, whether it is part of a mass planting of the same variety or a single instance, whether the...

If you have too many to place in a garage, then you can dig a trench (I assume that you don't have the big guys like Sum and Substance in pots like I saw in California) twice as deep as the pot is wide, and lay the pots on their sides along the bottom of the trench. A good place for the trench would...

Rose of Sharon/H.Syriacus has been in my experience a plant with something like a 10 year life cycle. They will bloom well for several years, stop blooming their last year and are dead by next Spring. As far as I know there was no obvious cause for a bush's decline such as digging around the root sy...

Hair, such as from the sweepings at a hair salon or dog grooming business, is supposedly worth adding to a compost pile. It is classified as a "green" rather than a "brown" due to its nitrogen content. I am sure that I could get garbage bags full of the stuff each week from some nearby hair salons b...

I have in mind just taking in one pot. The tips about avoiding drought dormancy, keeping it on an 18 hour light cycle and the use of a fan to prevent fungus are great. I want to be able to enjoy hostas out of season, have the plant in good shape (no point in bringing it inside just to see it die off...

When I mentioned the 29 days of below 40 degree Fahrenheit temperatures, I had in mind allowing the hosta to enjoy its dormancy, and then to bring it inside to start its growing season. Something like this must be done at the mid-Winter flower shows where hostas are part of the exhibit. Either that,...

I had used metaldehyde for a severe slug problem when I lived in Northern California (the hostas were all in pots on the patio, and I had tried all the things like diatomaceous earth, wood ashes, copper strips, etc., that slugs don't like). The filler material that the metaldehyde was embedded in lo...

The nematodes that affect hostas affect many unrelated species. It is possible that an unrelated plant existed last season in the bed where you now have your seedings, and that that plant was a carrier. Also, if you either made your own compost or bought compost as part of a soil amendment, that is ...

Does anyone have any recommendations about growing hostas indoors over the Winter? I don't mean potting up a mature Sum and Substance to put on a coffee table but one of the miniatures like Cameo that you may already have growing in a pot on the patio. I remember reading that hostas need 700 hours (...

It seems that the lignin in walnut trees is present in the roots and the green hulls that form the outer covering of walnuts. I have not noticed a problem with walnut sawdust or twigs sent through a wood chipper or leaves when used as a mulch. I have been told that you need to be careful about compo...

I would second the advice about the need to keep hostas in containers well watered. If the leaves start to wilt, then the plants are getting stressed from lack of water. Some varieties will show this stress more dramatically than others based on the substance of their leaves. If the containers are o...

I agree that you wouldn't use a dark tarp because you would be getting a lot of solar gain on sunny days. The idea is to shield the pots from the effects of the Sun during a late Winter thaw. For a potting mix, I like composted bark, builder's sand and pea gravel. The proportion is five parts bark, ...

As I see it, there are some advantages to moving the pots to an unheated garage or garden shed: 1) Some hostas are early to emerge, and so can be damaged by a late frost in the Spring. Pots that are left outside might be more susceptible to a January thaw. An unheated garage is going to have more mo...

Thanks for the welcome! I should mention that when you use coffee grounds as a mulch that they will form a crust as they dry out. When you water an area where the crust has formed you'll see water initially flowing over the surface (eventually, the crust becomes waterlogged and allows water through)...

Thank you for the kind welcome to the forum. I used to flood the main hosta bed once a season in case there are any salt buildups in the root zone. I stopped doing this when I read that recirculated water used in some commercial greenhouse operations can result in the transmission of plant viruses. ...

In view of HVX, how has it changed the way you garden? Here are some of the ways it has affected me. 1. I no longer bring a new plant in to fill in a gap in a hosta bed. Instead, I grow them in their own bed or a container for at least one year. After a year (this still may be too short a time for t...

Is there a general recommendation about what trees to avoid when planting hostas? I can understand that a tree that provides dense shade would not be the best choice, and a tree that is a heavy feeder would compete with hostas. However, I have seen gardens where hostas were planted underneath French...

Coffee grounds are great as a soil amendment. When worked into the soil or used as a mulch, they do not seem to break down that fast. This seems to be a plus given that their slow decomposition doesn't require you to compensate for the nitrogen taken by other materials that decompose more quickly. I...