Hallson Gardens

I have no scientific proof, but it is my firm believe slugs and snails can spread the HVX-virus. Why do I think so ? Well, unfortunately, it's from my own experience. I have a pretty large collection; over the years, I must have acquired some HVX-infested plants. I know of 2 that had been in te coll...

It's 11 pm on a damp, wet night. Out in the Hosta Mill Garden stands a man. A weird looking man, acting even weirder. Attached to his forehead is a led flash light. On his back is a garden sprayer. Slowly he stumbles through the garden, light aimed at the ground. Every now and then he stops to spray...

About H. 'Corona' I've had this plant in splendid isolation for a couple of years. Most of the people I know have tossed it because rumor was there wasn't a single virus-free specimen around. Bought it from Jan van den Top (Hostaworld) in Holland. When it comes to plant hygiene, Jan is the most care...

Hi, Cindy, The most accomplished trough growers I know use a mix of 1/3 poultry grit to 2/3 potting soil. And make sure you have good drainage holes in your container. For minis, the container should not be too deep; I think 5" or less is good. David It's a mixture, so to poultry grit is used for d...

Hello Thy, the first ones to really show leaves here are: H. 'Mieke' and H. 'Garnet Prince', with H. lancifolia not far behind. This made me realize H. 'Mieke' has to be a H. lancifolia sport or seedling. It is a cultivar my father in law bought more than 30 years ago, the name suggests it is of Bel...

Almost all plants are showing eyes over here (in Dutch we call them "neuzen" (noses)). "Here" is Belgium, near Antwerp. Some plants are already leafed out, so there's a lot going on every day. Best of all, no night frost within the next 14 days is expected. Looks like we're in fot the best spring in...

I still have to clear part of the garden, make a couple of lasagna beds in the vleared area and plant out all plants that are still in pots. Over the years I've experienced trouble overwintering young plants in pots and with planting them out straight in the garden. They will stay in the lasagna bed...

I'm visiting Danny Van Eechaute's collection next monday.
Who knows what I'll come home with ?

Hello Matt, Collecting genuine Hosta species is, to say the leat, challenging. I used to breed cacti. With cacti, I would breed true to nature species. You could purchase seeds from species, subspecies, varieties and forma, originating from a specific location in the wild. The resulting seedlings we...

Hello everyone, A couple of years ago I decided to specialize in solid colored hostas. As time went by, I got more and more interested in Hosta species. Now a large part of the Hosta Mill collection are species, named selections of species, sports of species and direct species offspring. You'd be su...

Hello Chris, You mention you would like to use H. 'Grand Slam' in hybridizing. My advice: DO IT. GS is thought to be a select form of H. longipes var. latifolia, a species with great breeding potential. I've used GS as a pod parent over the past years, and the results are simply amazing. All my seed...

Just saving up for the plane tickets, hotels, car-rent, and, the hostas of course.

See you in a couple of years Chris

So sad to hear that.
It's cowboys like these that spoil everything.

A couple of months ago I went to an information day, organized by the NHV (Dutch Hosta Society). One of the speakers was one of the better known Dutch wholesale perennial and hosta growers. They finally seem to take the HVX problem very serious, and do thorough and extensive testing. As I live in th...

Hello Chris, I'm on the night shift. Wait for them to come out of hiding, then spray onto them and onto the rest of the bed. The ones I can see are killed instantly, but I guess some that are crawling around elswhere get killed also. I guess the ammonia doesn't even affect the tast very much: in the...

Last year, the Hosta Mill garden was invaded bij vinegrape snails. Some plants were eaten completely. Only the petioles ans some threads from the big veins remained. This year, I started war on them. I tried to catch every single last on of them. The counter is on 800 by now. http://img52.imageshack...

Hello, Keeping a personal website is something a lot of people start with. After a couple of years the thing starts to grow out of control and gets really time consuming. That's why the maintenance of a website often gets less after a couple of years. Then there's the fact that a website doesn't com...

Hello Renaldo,

You must be having a great time over there, with all those nice hosta folk around.
Give my regards to Danny and Hugo.
I've seen some very nice pictures of the garden tour on Hostapix.
Seems like Lansing is somewhere in the middle of Hosta Heaven.

Rob
The Hostamill

I wish I was, but it will remain a distant dream this year.

If you happen to meet the Belgian delegation, Danny Van Eechaute and Hugo Philips,
give them my best wishes (if there's an auction, that's where you'll find them).

Greetings,

Rob