How are new hostas hybridized?
Humans can take paint brushes, (and if the hostas are not blooming at the same time remove the pollen and store it in a refrigerator until the other plant is receptive to it) and then it can be cross-pollinated creating seed that will yield a different plant. A hybridizer may plant 4,000 seeds. From the 4,000 plants he/she may throw away 3,600 the first year, another 350 the second year, another 45 the third year, and actually only consider 5 plants out of the 4,000 as new possibilities. Then, these plants have to prove stable from year to year, be vigorous, be different from any other cultivar that is registered, and have characteristics that make it marketable. It is time-consuming and laborious. Nonetheless, there are many hybridizers who we can thank for doing all of this time-consuming and detailed work. The hybridizer gets to name the plant. The HostaSearch™ Database has the names of the people involved with hybridizing existing hostas. In addition, there may also be correspondin
