Hallson Gardens

Hi All--Fair Maiden is a very attractive, distinctive plant. It is one of those plants that has the ability to draw your eyes to it. However, some growers have had problems with plant in locations that do not get much water. In our garden it is growing in a spot that gets a couple of hours or so of ...

Hi All--Vanilla Cream is a very good variety with foliage color that seems to change depending on your viewing angle. It has a good growth rate and will stay free of slug damage with a little help. I purchased the plant in 1995 and since 2000 it has been growing in a spot that gets about 3-4 hours o...

Hi All--Great Expectations is probably the most aptly named hosta variety. The most successful growers "only" have to wait 3-5 years for this plant to finally start showing off its wonderful potential. Less successful growers may have to watch as the plant fades off to nothingness or just hangs on y...

Laura--The Library says the seeds are viable.

Hi All--Emerald Necklace, with its unique, very interesting foliage is one of my top favorites. Only the outer rim of the leaves are corrugated, the only variety with this characteristic that I am aware of. Early in the season (1st pic) many of the leaves have central portions that are a bright crea...

Hi All--Sun Power is one of the very best gold hosta varieties. Its bright, graceful foliage is a highlight in the garden. I purchased the plant in 1994 and since 2000 it has been growing in a spot that gets about 2-3 hours of mid-day sun. The transplant in 2000 set it back a bit as its size in 2001...

Hi All--Chinese Sunrise is one of the hosta stars of our early spring garden. It is early to emerge and its foliage is at its best and brightest in the first weeks of the season when it has relatively light foliage with a dark margin. For the rest of the year its foliage remains attractive but its c...

Hi--My Fire & Ice did not start to do well until I put it in a spot that gets up to about 6 hours or so of mid-day and afternoon sun. It might be worth a try for you to leave it in place this year to see what happens.

Hi All--Today's plant was a real surprise for me. In the fall of 1999 I purchased two identical Sunshine Glorys and planted them in different areas of the garden. In the spring of 2000 one of them emerged with a completely different appearance. The entire clump had sported to Sun's Glory (or at leas...

Hi--With hostas, I think you will only have to mulch them for the 1st winter. That is what I have done here and have never lost one. Actually, it is probably not necessary to mulch them the 1st year either but it seems like the safe thing to do.

Dave--Politics?? Whatever would cause you to think that I might draw on the political scene for a name???

Hi All--Today's variety, montana 'Aureomarginata', is universally regarded as one of the truly premier hostas. It's wonderful foliage is stunning from the first day it emerges in the spring (often one of the first hostas to emerge) until the end of the season. I purchased the plant in 1997 and for t...

HI HD--If the problem reoccurs, you might try using a systemic pesticide like Di-Syston. I have used it on some of my garden plants that had nematodes and it has been very effective. I would think that in the enclosed environment of seedling trays you would have a good chance of 100% fatalities.

Hi All--Sometimes its hard for me to think of something to write about a variety. Today's plant, Bitsy Gold, is like that. Its just that after I say that it is "bitsy" and "gold" there is not much left to say. The plant does remind me of a very small, gold lancifolia. I got it as a gift in 2002 and ...

Looks familiar to me.

Hi All--Today variety, Fascination, has some uncommon characteristics. It is one of only a few varieties that I am aware of being sold that has unstable variegation. If left alone, as my plant has been, the plant will gradually lose its variegation and become all solid green. You can see this happen...

At least until the football playoffs are over.

GO GREEN BAY PACKERS!!!

Pia--Wisconsin. 3 hours of Wisconsin sun. At these times of the National Football League playoffs, this is an important difference. GO GREEN BAY PACKERS!!!

Hi All--Change of Tradition is a very nice plant but its appeal might be mostly to hostaphiles who already have a good sized collection. I tend to think of it as a dignified lancifolia with a thin, white margin. I got it in 2000 and have it in a spot that gets about 3 hours of direct mid-day sun and...

Hi All--Today's variety, Tattoo, has caused a lot of comments because of its unique Maple Leaf marking within the leaf, neither a margin or center variegation. A number of owners have had trouble keeping Tattoo alive. Here in our zone 4B garden, I have mulched it in the fall to help it through the w...