Rob Mortko
“The Hot Hostas of Tomorrow”
Working with the country’s top hosta hybridizers we are proud to bring their latest introductions to the marketplace via our hosta tissue culture lab. We will look at the hybridizers, their latest introductions and when/where you can expect to find them.
Rob is a retired chemical engineer. He spent 25 years with Black & Veatch in Kansas City where
he was Vice President of Process Engineering and Technology. His passion for shade gardening
and hostas has grown over the past 35+ years since he and his wife Sheri moved into their shaded
woodland home in Olathe, Kansas.
Their shade gardens have been featured on various public garden tours, on local TV, and in “Kansas City Homes and Gardens Magazine”. 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 hosta introductions include ‘Stitch in Time’, ‘Mouse Capades’, ‘Rising Star’, ‘Carry On’ and his latest ‘And You and I’. In 2019 ‘Stitch is Time’ was awarded Honorable Mention in its first year of competition for the AHS Benedict Medal Award.
Rob is a frequent speaker at hosta clubs and gardening groups across the country. He is a Johnson County Kansas Extension Master Gardener where he has served on the Advisory Board. He has also served on the Executive Board of the American Hosta Society, on the boards of the American Hosta Growers Association and Midwest Regional Hosta Society, and as a Contributing Editor for The Hosta Journal.
Rob co-chaired the 2017 Midwest Regional Hosta Convention in Lenexa, Kansas. Along with his fellow Johnson County Master Gardeners they hosted “Hostas in the Land of Ahhhs”.
Rob was the 2024 recipient of the Alex J. Summers Distinguished Merit Award from the American Hosta Society.
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Don Rawson
“Hybridizing: Thinking Outside of the Box”
Don will share his and other hybridizers explorations of hybridizing hostas with plants that share similar genetic makeup.
Don lives on four acres near Grand Rapids, MI. He and his wife have extensive gardens in which they grow hostas, irises, daylilies, and other perennials. Don enjoys hybridizing new hosta cultivars and rock hounding… which explains why his landscape is filled with many one-of-a-kind hostas, as well as unusual rocks and boulders.
Don has introduced and registered many hostas, including: ‘Color Revolt’, ‘Don’s Gator Hide’, ‘Gabriel’s Wing’, ‘Hammered Gold’, ‘Pride and Joy’, ‘Rhino Blue’, and ‘Royal Empress’.
Don is a founding member and past president of the West Michigan Hosta Society. He serves as co-chairman of the AHS Nomenclature Committee. In 2021, Don was the co-chair of the AHS National Convention in Kalamazoo, MI. Don is responsible for the publications, The Book of Hosta Lists and the Hosta Hybridizer’s Manual. Don has been a popular teacher at the Great Lakes Region Hosta College for several years. He is also a frequent contributor to the Hosta Journal.