This week on Hosta la Vista, we sit down with Don Rawson — hosta hybridizer, curator of the legendary Hosta List database, creator of the Hostas of Distinction website, and one of the most quietly influential figures in the entire hosta world. Don grows on four acres near Grand Rapids, Michigan, makes up to 11,000 intentional crosses per summer starting at 6:00 AM, plants around 20,000 seeds per year, and has introduced over 20 cultivars including Rhinohide, Gabriel's Wing, Razorback, Alligator Rock, Granny's Goosebumps, Catcher's Mitt, Gator Bowl, and Gatorhide. This is the episode hosta collectors and hybridizers have been waiting for.
Don traces his hosta journey from childhood — his mother's plants, falling in love with the genus in the 1980s before the internet made finding hostas easy — through building his home garden in 1992, to becoming one of the most serious hybridizers working today. He walks us through his entire process: protecting breeding plants, bringing selected parents inside the night before, making crosses outdoors at dawn, collecting seed in fall, planting 60 to 65 flats, and ultimately keeping only 1,800 to 2,000 of roughly 15,000 germinated seedlings. The rest get composted. Yes, really.
Betsy asks Don about Alligator Rock — her personal favorite hosta — and Don reveals the backstory: it was actually Bob Solberg who spotted it in Don's hybridizing garden before Don had even marked it to save. Along with Granny's Goosebumps, Bob pulled it out of the crowd and said this one matters. Don describes what makes it special: extremely corrugated dark green shiny foliage, dense growth, beautiful white flowers. We also dig deep into Catcher's Mitt — one of the most unique cupped hostas in existence, with vertical cups that show the white leaf backs rather than the inside, a dark green margin hidden inside the cup, and an exclusive release coming through In The Country Garden and Gifts. And Gator Bowl, currently in tissue culture production, which Don describes as extremely cupped with four-inch cups, deeply corrugated, dark green with pure white flowers.
Don shares his vision for where hosta hybridizing is headed — red and purple leaved hostas that hold their color all summer, variegated hostas with red or purple centers and margins, bronze and pink leaved varieties, double flowers, and crosses between hostas and related genera like agave and manfreda that could produce deer resistant and drought tolerant hybrids. He also points out that hybridizers are only working with about 28 of the 38 to 41 known hosta species — meaning the potential for future development is staggering.
On HVX, Don is direct and practical. He explains that just because you can't see Hosta Virus X on a plant does not mean it isn't there. He walks through his recommended tool sterilization routine using a 10% bleach solution — fresh every couple of hours, rinse your tools after or they'll rust, never reuse it the next day. He also warns against composting hosta leaves and scapes if you suspect any disease or nematode presence in your garden.
Don also shares his advice for anyone wanting to get serious about hybridizing: find local growers, join Facebook seedling groups, set specific goals, and get a copy of the Hybridizers Manual — a 170-page illustrated compilation of articles from hybridizers who came before, available directly from Don.
We play Finish the Rhyme and in This or That he picks massive cupped leaves over red every time, keeps the weirdest seedlings, and admits he's guilty of hand pollinating in a thunderstorm.
His parting advice: gardening is meant to be fun. Don't make it a job. Have fun, and pass it on.
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