Hallson Gardens

Thanks, John! I'm very much looking forward for this plant to become tall and flowering. Next to the pond there's a little terrace where I intend to place my hammock - should I ever find time to rest in it. :lol: The terrace is surrounded by scented flowers and shrubs, and I hope that the Hibiscus w...

A few years ago I noticed in early summer, quite some time after a move, that I had forgotten my Crocosmia bulbs in the basement. They had been out of soil for at least 1.5 years. And they looked awful, shrunk, hard, woody, no sign of life. So I tossed them on top of the compost box. A few months la...

I bought a Hibiscus coccineus recently. I searched the net trying to find out more to give him best conditions for a start. The plant is now positioned next to my pond in humous, moist, slightly acid soil in full sun (if there is sun :roll: ). I hope it will thrive there. However, the information I ...

Well, finally I have taken a photo of both Buddleia 'Black Knight' and 'Royal Red'. As expected, the camera messes with the purples, but it can not suppress the basic differences. In reality my 'Royal Red' is more reddish than purple, and my 'Black Knight' has less purple and more black. I'm wonderi...

Perhaps because these Magnolias are endangered by late frosts? Every other year these beautiful trees catch a late frosty night and afterwards look like covered in mud balls. It's a risk...

The seed pods are often found on elder Magnolia trees. The pod becomes woody and finally splits up to show bright red seeds.
There are two very old Magnolia trees in my neighbourhood. They bear lots of these seedpods in late autumn.

:lol: I'll take a photo tomorrow (if it's not too rainy) of my 'Black Knight' and will post it here. The shrub stands next to a Buddleia 'Royal Red', so there will be a chance to compare the colour difference even with individual computer settings. Which does not mean, that my camera won't mess it u...

TGIF = becomes true in about 19 minutes here

I have Buddleia 'Black Knight' but it looks much darker than on your photo. A very dark purplish blue, almost black, with some neon effects.
Might be that the camera can't take it correctly. My Nikon makes a mess of all purples.

TLC and TGIF were the first English acronyms I learned from the internet...

Sorry, no, I have no idea. I suppose that you prune your Buddleias in spring in order to avoid early aging? Buddleias are not very long-lived though... how old was your shrub when it died?

There were plenty of insects on the shrubs when they were in bloom, also I know that there are fruiting Ilex verticillata in other gardens around. Therefore I think that the necessary insects are present. The shrubs should be twice boy and girl as I bought two containers. I took a look yesterday, bu...

I'll dive under the shrubs tomorrow and will report... though my feeling says that no animals are involved.

I have two shrubs of Ilex verticillata planted next to the pond in constantly moist, slightly acidic soil in a sunny position. They do well and have grown to a height of 1,20 m and 1,50 m within 8 years. The nursery assured me that rooted cuttings of both male and female plants were used when planti...

Buddleia davidii 'Empire Blue' has this stunning blue colour, just in case number three gets lost, too. I can never decide which of my Buddleias to favour most. Buddleia x wheyeriana is a huge shrub with lots of round clusters of yellow flowers with honey scent. The bumble bees love it more than oth...

Your rat seems a bit shy. Do you have cats?

I was wondering whether I have some appropriate junk in my garden, but the only thing I keep wondering whether to keep it is this one in the veggie garden:

Yes, they really have something in common with holidays. You're looking forward to them, but you're also happy when they're over.

A fine stinker you have grown there, Doris! I've attached a picture from my one, taken last year (with the old camera). I'm hoping for another "flower" this summer, Dracunculus vulgaris seems to take longer here than in PNW. Amorphophallus needs many more years to grow before it establishes a 2 m fl...

Thanks to you, too!
Your right, Sam, we've met before.
Okay, Joan, one more photo, but then I must go to sleep... .
The picture shows what you see when approaching my garden from the main path.

Thank you to you all for the nice welcome! It's a few years ago that I was last here, I hope to come more often from now on. I live in the West of Germany near the Dutch border. My garden is a little more than 300 m² in size. It is part of a community garden club. I'm currently working at the "final...