Hallson Gardens

Hi, I have a problem with my irises that live next to my daylilies. I have a hillside full of 6 year old Stellas and I have interspersed many tall bearded irises in that garden at our place in MI. We spend our summers in MI and the remainder of the year in MD. When we leave the Stellas are still hav...

I use mulch in our iris beds mainly because they are both abandoned for part of the year since we spend the summer in MI so mulch is important to keep weeds out while I can't weed. One comment I read when I first started growing irises was that they "love their roots basking in the sun". Unlike othe...

Unfortunately, they look like celery stalks right now I am told. I am resigned to digging all my hostas and daylilies and moving them to our place in MI where the deer herd is miniscule compared to MD. Does anyone know the sun tolerance of Komodos? I have precious little shade here.

Thanks boops! I stole them in a clearance sale in August a few years ago. They have increased so much that I have been able to pull of a few offsets for our 2013 Master Gardener plant sale. Nobody will buy a hosta at that sale unless it is variegated. Their loss.

Mine grow extremely quickly in my garden in MD. I have had them eaten by voles, mowed down by deer in July and the keep increasing. They are my favorite hosta. Here is a photo of them about a year after I had divided from my original clumps. Their buddies are also a fast grower which I have divided ...

I love them - mine are in 100% sun in MI and they thrive. They are a rapid grower forming a nice clump quickly and their purple flower scapes are showy. Mine are beginning to bloom right now. The ones behind them along the wall are Great Expectations. They were not meeting expectations so I moved th...

We had a very mild winter in MD and the voles have gone bonkers. I had some chewing of my hosta petioles by chipmunks but the voles have gone where they have never gone before. We spend the summer in Michigan and before we leave I plant our old vegetable garden with dahlias and put up an extensive t...

Chris - I agree about the winters and better buds. Even though my hostas that I grow in the UP of MI have been in many less years (Zone 4) they are growing much faster than the ones I have in MD (Zone 6). I just hope they get some snow in the UP because the plant losses are higher without an insulat...

Thanks for all of the information Linda! I will dig a wide, wide hole. Fortunately, voles don't go very deep in the soil so it will not have to be a major dig. Thanks for all of the information on the growth rate also. Luckily, I have a big empty spot in our entry garden! Have a wonderful Labor Day!

On a long trip from the UP of Michigan to Kalamazoo I stopped at Kirby's in Lake City Michigan and found an Empress Wu. It has been in its' pot all summer awaiting the return to MD. Most of my hostas are planted in plastic pots with large drainage slashes buried in the ground because our vole proble...

Komodo Dragons are vase shaped also - more visible in the spring and younger specimens.

the first time I ever made a major purchase of hostas over a decade ago I lost 2 of my Komodo Dragons right off the bat. I emailed the guy I bought them from and he straightened me out - I thought it was moles eating them. He told me healthy female outdoor cats would help with the voles. We feed the...

Hi Woodthrush - I don't know if was the voles but I can't blame it on anything else and they have been problematic in the yard. It came up the first year then never came back. A number of Krossa Regals and Baby Buntings went missing in that area and I know what to blame for them! BTW - thanks for th...

Here are a couple of photos of mine. I only have 2 (the vole got the third bulb I bought). One photo really shows the variegation. I can't wait to see them again.

I am ordering some of that Spilt Milk this spring! I don't know if mine is in too shady a spot but it is growing sooooo slowly. I love yarrow and grow it at our cabin in Michigan in full sun. I am going to try some in fill in areas in our dappled shade beds here in MD. Thanks for the great ideas and...

Thank you cowboy for the wonderful visit back to summer! I have never seen such a large Spilt Milk, you must have had that plant for years, mine grows so slowly. I see that you had achillea interspersed with some of your hostas. Does it have long term survival in the partial shade that most hostas n...

When you plant your new hosta you might want to invest in a protective nest for it. I use the pond plant baskets to plant my hostas into the ground, keeps the voles from hitting them from below. If they hit the hosta from the top, they expose themselves to predators and usually do less damage. Enclo...

Nice photo tundracub! I love Komodo Dragons and they were in my first hosta order ever. They are so statuesque. This year I planted the seeds from one of mine this year outside in my outdoor nursery garden and I bet every one came up! I have about 100 seedlings and I gave away about 2/3s of the seed...

addieotto, I feel for you with the voles tearing up your hostas, it is an ongoing problem in our garden. Someone a few months ago posted a picture of commercial rodent bait holders that you may want to look up and try. I decided not to do that because we love the little chipmunks scurrying around. D...

Since I have a constant vole problem I have to fertilize my hostas. They either dig them up and lay them on their sides or defoliate them. I use Algoflash either the Flowering Plant or All-Purpose formulas. The Flowering plant formula is 4-6-7. The P and K build big roots so that if the plant is att...