The Mid-South Hosta Society welcomes Rob Mortko of Made in the Shade Gardens for the March 18 meeting via Zoom.  Contact Suzanne Allen at sallen0126@gmail.com for login information.

“Hot New Hostas for Today and Tomorrow”

Following the recent demise of both Shady Oaks and Q&Z TC labs, fewer and fewer new hostas are finding their way to market. Made in the Shade started up their own tissue culture 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.

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’ and ‘Carry On’. In 2019 ‘Stitch is Time’ was awarded Honorable Mention in its first year of competition towards 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 board of the American Hosta Growers Association, and as a Contributing Editor for The Hosta Journal.