Hallson Gardens

December 2006 we bought our very first home. There has not been much done as for gardening so I have a clean slate to start with.

But before I start planting anything, I want our new fence put up. We have scheduled a free in home estimate with Home Depot and they will be here in about a week. I cannot wait! (Privacy fence)

Once that goes in.. I will start right away. There is a large patch in the back right corner of the back yard that will be a perfect vegetable garden! I plan on having an herb section and a veggie section back there. And of course sun flowers lining the shed at the edge.

The entrance through the fence on the left side of the house(facing the house) I plan on having archways with climbing plants (probably roses, I love roses, or perhaps grapes) leading to the back yard. Plants lining the fence all the way around and roses on the back part of the house as well.

The front yard gets a lot of shade. I want to put in a pond in front of the front deck. The spot where the pond will go gets the most sun of the front yard so depending upon how much sun and how much room I will plant flowers around the pond. Of course there will be koi in it and pond plants.

Then the other side of the deck directly in front of the house will have lots of hostas, elephant ears and other such type plants. I bought a camelia and that will most likely go here as well.

We also plan on putting a small decorative fence (white picket lol) around part of the front yard that the girls can play in. (We have an almost 5 and an almost 2 yr old) so there will be plants lining this as well. I really like azaleas and have one out there right now and will most likely get more.

Well.. thats the plan. Most likely things will change here and there.

Thanks for reading I'll post more as things start coming together. Picture will be included.

Congrats on your new home, Amber! Isn't it great to have a clean slate like that to plan your gardens? I'll enjoy seeing pics of the work in progress. Please keep us updated as you work on the designs.

You will be glad you put up the fence, keeps the critters out.They love trender leaves and new blooms. OC too waits in eager anticipation for pictures.....

Yes it is nice to have a clean slate
Well.. I have done some work.. between being sick myself and taking care of sick kids (one with ear infections) and a sick husband.

Here are a few pictures of my back yard and what I've got planned. There will be more pictures as things progress too.

Ok.. This is my extremely unsightly (for now) lawn.





This is where I was standing to take those two pictures. That part of the house was an addition that was grandfathered in because its so close to the other house. That is my kitchen and laundry room and of course the way to the back yard from the house.



This is the back of the house. On the left side is the spare bedroom and on the right where the wooden steps are is my bedroom. We dont use that door. Infact, my bed is right in front of it, and that is because our bedroom set is too large and we wouldn't have been able to use the door anyways.



I was working on this section a few weeks ago. Its done now and my roses are planted there.





These are the roses. They look quite different now with all the growth.



Some forsythia I bought, which also looks quite different now with growth. This is going to go in the front and I am going to get more and make a border along my side yard separating our yard from Dan's next door. (Hes a nice guy.. I just want a border )



This is the other side of the house. Here.. I plan on having roses and other plants all along both sides. I am going to put a couple of archways in there and have climbing roses go along them. (We are putting in a privacy fence with our tax return)



This area back here is where I am having my vegetable and herb garden. I cant wait I have blueberries and strawberries in pots right now and I have seeds from a honeydew melon sprouting on my kitchen counter in a paper towel



No pics of the front yard right now. Its not as bad as the back. I have big plans up there too. The other day I put some dinnerplate dahlias in the ground and some honeysuckle too that is going to wind around my front deck.

Verrrrry nice, Amber! Congrats! How exciting! Beautiful home! The great thing about "unsightly" in a yard is what all the neighbors will say when you start working on it! It will be great! I really am excited for you! Please keep the pics coming!

I have new pictures! I have done SO much! I know I didn't have any pics of the front yard before, but I have done a lot out there. More so than the back.

Here is the front of my house:


This section here.. they had a large bush on the front corner there where I have the african daisies. The back corner was completely blocked and nothing was in it! So I took out the bush and added a camelia in the back corner and put my gardenia in the middle and the african daisies on the corner. Off to the right there is caladium, hostas, lilly of the valley, and dianthus. The holly bush (behind the tree) was there when we moved in and we are going to leave that one. On the far right was another large bush that was pretty ugly. We took that out too and I replaced that with a lilac and around the front of that are these lillies that resemble those red hot pokers. I forget what they were called.
Then .. around the mailbox, my daughters put in regular daisies in the bare spot in front of the african ones (but inside the rocks) and I put a geranium and two yellow lillies. In the little watering cans, my daughter put one bulb in each of her "shooting stars".
On the other side of the stairs I have toad lillies, trumpet vine and honeysuckle to go around my porch, two dinner plate dahlias and one "hawaii" dahlia and some pansies. And a fushia hanging in a basket

close up

close up


Along the sidewalk in the front yard I put a border of azaleas.. 8 in total and every one a different color

close up of one


And here are some updated pics of of my back yard. We have someone coming to give us an estimate today on a privacy fence! WOOT! Here is the side walking back (and the dog lol)


coming towards the back and the shed we had put in:


coming around the corner:


the back of my house. Really all I put in along there is the two roses. One of which bloomed yesterday! SOOO pretty and fragrant.. I'll get a close up of it later


The kitchen side. There is a butterfly bush there that will move later and gladiolas on the right in a small patch of dirt between the house and brick walkway


Here are the roses, but like I said, one opened up and I need to go in there and weed a bit again..


In preparation for my veggie and herb garden.. I roto-tilled the back section this past Sunday, but I want to wait for the fence to put anything in there.


And I have blueberries, strawberries, garlic, wisteria and forsythia here:


TODAY! I am going to start digging MY POND!! I am soooo excited. I have four running fish tanks in my house. A 125 gallon, a 55 gallon and two 20 gallons so now I get to have a 56 gallon pond in the front yard! YAY! I bought it yesterday. Had to convince the hubby lol

Thanks for looking
Amber