Welcome! It is with great excitement and pleasure that the Southwest Michigan Hosta Society and the West Michigan Hosta Society are partnering to bring you the first ever Virtual 2021 American Hosta Society National Convention.
Register early to reserve your gift plant: Hosta Silly String. Registrants will also receive exclusive online access to: Speakers, Workshops, Clinics, on-demand, professionally recorded virtual garden tours, Ed Elslagar Seedling Competition, Hosta leaf show photo contest (unsanctioned), and more! Be sure to check back often at https://ahs2021.org/ for updated details on events.
On Thursday, July 15, Rob Mortko will talk about The Hot Hostas of Tomorrow. Following the recent demise of both Shady Oaks and Q&Z tissue-culture labs, fewer and fewer new hostas are finding their way to market. Made in the Shade started up their own TC lab ten years ago and is attempting to fill this void. Working with both hybridizers and other growers, a number of exciting new introductions are making their way to market to become the hot hostas of tomorrow. Get ready to add some new entries to your hosta wish list. For 20 years, Rob operated Made in the Shade Gardens – a retail and mail order hosta specialty nursery. Rob is now devoted full time to Made in the Shade Tissue Culture – a plant tissue culture laboratory specializing in hosta propagation.
In 2000, Rob registered and introduced his first hosta cultivar named ‘Heart and Soul’. His other hosta introductions include ‘Stitch in Time’, ‘Mouse Capades’, ‘Rising Star’, and ‘Carry On’. In 2019, ‘Stitch in Time’ was awarded Honorable Mention in its first year of competition toward the AHS Benedict Garden Performance Medal.
On Friday, July 16, Bob Iiames will speak on Cohesion vs Chaos: Creating Design in the Collector’s Garden. Do you love to buy hostas and plants in general? Do you get home and wonder, “How am I going to plant these so they don’t look like soldiers in a row?” Join Bob for a look at some gardens and gardeners who have solved the collector’s garden dilemma. See how they have created a cohesive look in their gardens through the use of color, texture, shape and form. We will talk about how to put it all together so you CAN have one of everything and still have a beautiful and harmonious garden. Bob Iiames is a groundskeeper at the 173-acre Lange Estate in Ludlow Falls, Ohio. He is a member of the American Conifer Society, Ohio Valley North American Rock Garden Society, and is past president of the Miami Valley Hosta Society.
The keynote speaker is Hans Hansen, who will deliver his talk on July 17 at 8 pm Central Time. Hansen currently holds over 179 U.S. Plant Patents and has registered 90 of his remarkable hosta originations. Furthermore, Hansen has contributed several additions to the Shadowland® series in the Proven Winners® program. Some introductions from his time at Walters Gardens include ‘Diamond Lake’, ‘Age of Gold’, and ‘Joy Ride’, as well as the action-packed convention plant, ‘Silly String’. We are pleased that Hans is telling us about his own interest in hybridizing the “friendship plant” with his presentation titled, “My Journey with Hostas.” From a very young age, Hans Hansen has been living and breathing plants. Raised on a dairy farm in SW Minnesota where he had a keen interest in plants, his early passion was lilies, peonies, and iris. Today, he is employed at Walters Gardens, Inc. where he is head of the hybridizing department. In a nutshell, Hansen is one of the premier plant breeders for all sorts of plants.
Register online at https://ahs2021.org/register/
