Hallson Gardens

Hi--After being "away" for a loonnggg time, I started to get automatic update emails about the old "Pic of the Day" series that I authored. After a few days of that, I decided to check out what was happening. What a really nice surprise and what a nice addition to the Pic of the Day series!! I want ...

HI Chris--I just called the UM lab and they charge $37 per sample to have a electron microscopy test done. Right now I'm inclined to destroy the Roy's Pink (it has a lot of other spotting on other leaves that I didn't try to photograph). The S & S is 14 years old and I'm really reluctant to destroy ...

Thanks for the comments. The Sum & Substance is 14 years old and in its location for most of that time. Roy's Pink was a gift in 2002 and has been in its location since then. They are about 50 feet away from each other. There are no other plants of any genera near them that have any symptoms. If a v...

I guess I've been lurking too long and don't know how to add a photo anymore. Here is the photo of Roy's Pink

Hi--I'm thought some of you might be interested to see the photos of plants that I just tested for HVX, using the new test strips. The results were negative, which was a nice surprise to me because the plants showed the same kind of spotting that indicates HVX. The first photo is of Sum & Substance ...

Hi Ellen--I place the plant in a space that I expect it to fill up at maturity. We use ground covers everywhere there are not "display" perennials so its not like we have bare ground exposed until the plant grows up.

Hi Bob--Welcome to the site. You'll find a lot of nice people hang out here. The ground cover is sedum 'Acre.' I do not recommend it for most applications. It is quite aggressive and, in general, takes a lot of work to contain. I use it in that area because the area is pretty much contained by the r...

Thanks, everybody. I'm glad you have enjoyed the tour.

Hi All--Well, I managed to do the tour of our place in less than a month. :-) The three photos today are the last of the "tour." They show a continuation of yesterday's photos of the steep bank and retaining walls that runs behind our home and is directly downhill from the woodland path. The hostas ...

Hi All--Continuing on with the walk around our garden, at the end of the woodland path (and the north end of the property) is a steep bank that runs just downhill from the woodland path. The first photo is just behind a storage shed with the steps that lead up to the woodland path and the three phot...

Chris--We had snow cover arrive early this season and, particularly when compared to the last 6-8 winters, it seems like it has been colder than normal too. We still have maybe 6 inches of snow on top of several inches of ice that formed during a freezing rain episode back in December. We do have a ...

Linda P wrote:Hank,
As soon as the snow is gone,

And just what makes you think the snow is EVER going to be gone?

Hi All--I mentioned a bench in yesterdays POTD. The first photo shows that bench. The next two show the remainder of our woodland path and where it ends by an abandoned fence on the north end of our property.

Hi--This scene is shown from the opposite view in the 2nd photo in Garden tour 11.

Hi All--As a person, such as Pia, might walk down the woodland path that I showed in the last POTD, she might decide to take a rest and sit on a bench we have there. Here is a view from that bench, overlooking what we call the hosta bank. The south lawn is to the left and our house is just off to th...

Pia--Just wait until tomorrow, and you'll be able to take a rest.

Hi All--As you leave the Friendship Garden and walk north we have the area that we call the woodland path. On the right side of the photos is the hillside forest. On the left, and outside of the photo, is a steep bank that runs behind our home that I'll be showing later. The hostas along the path ar...

Hi--It is a Japanese Painted fern. Here is a photo with two different colored ones. They are GREAT companions.

Hi All--Here are three more views of the Friendship Garden.

Hi--In the first photo yesterday I showed a 2005 shot of the entrance to the area we now call the Friendship Garden. I won't go into the details of how it came to be except to say that the Friendship Garden has become the heart of our garden. All of the hostas were given to us and were planted in th...