How do humans hybridize?
Humans can take paintbrushes, 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. As some hostas bloom at different times of the year, their pollen will not come into contact with other plants. A hybridizer may plant 4,000 seeds. From the 4,000 plants he 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, be different than any other cultivar that is registered, and have characteristics that make it marketable. It is time consuming and laborious. None the less, there are many hybridizers that we can thank for doing all of this time consuming and detailed work. The hybridizer gets to name the plant. The HostaSearchTM Database has the names of the people involved with hybridizing existing hostas. In addition, the
