Meet Ron Livingston: Hybridizer of Hosta

Ron Livingston

   Ron Livingston was born one of three children in Detroit, MI.  He has been with his partner for twenty one years and has a daughter from a previous marriage.  For almost 36 years, Ron was a science teacher in the Detroit Public School System.  He also worked at Lawrence Technology University, where he taught operation physics, plant sciences and heredity.  Retired now, he spends his time on photography, hiking, traveling, body building and, naturally, breeding Hosta which he has been doing since 1997.
   

Hosta Garden

  Ron credits his grandfather and his contagious enthusiasm for plants for sparking his own horticultural love.  "My grandfather got me started.  He taught me to enjoy to enjoy the joys of the soil, the smell, the feel, and other unlimited possibilities to produce life of all kinds."  Since childhood he has had a fascination with genetics of all kinds, spending time breeding guppies also.  He says he'd like to work with canine genetics eventually. His garden style is pretty eclectic, doing what ever he feels like doing. Space is always short in a hybridizers garden, so the neighbors are lucky to get free Hostas that didn't quite make the cut.  Ron loves producing his own plant varieties, but he feels that those doing the breeding aren't given the recognition they deserve for their hard work, creativity and vision.  'I am not fond of the “big business” end of things, where as usual, the large companies get the lion’s portion of the profits and the hybridizer gets a meager tidbit. I feel that there should be some way that the person doing the creative portion of the job gets properly compensated. I am not sure why that cannot happen.'

Pink Flamingo

   He chose to work with Hostas because of their popularity, easy to access sexy parts, sometimes bees do the work for you, and the genetic diversity available.  When he first breeding Hosta, a good friend, Stuart Asch was there to mentor him and pass along the knowledge he had gained while he was mentored by Pauline Banyai.  Ron says that the hardest part of actually breeding Hosta is that the plants you've produced and become very fond of either die for no apparent reason or don't survive the winter.  His other least favorite part of the hobby is when it becomes work and no longer fun.  He used to do 5,000 different crosses per season, it became tedious, back breaking labor.  Now he stops when he wants to and it's back to being fun again.

Tremont Spice

   Ron says he doesn't keep track of the number of seeds he produces and sows, 'it is not how many you plant that counts, it is the quality of those you plant that counts. Also, as they grow, it is extremely important to be able to closely monitor them. If you grow too many of them, you have less time to observe each one.'  The initial selection process is to pull the fastest growing, best looking seedlings and give them bigger pots.  The other smaller seedlings will usually get a chance to prove themselves over winter in the same flats they were sown in.  The ones that don't impress him get composted or given away.  Space is at a premium and plants that aren't worthy don't get the garden real estate.  The evaluation process can take anywhere from five to twelve years, depending on stability of variegation.  He doesn't believe in registering his plants, subjecting them to other peoples rules and regulations, after all, it won't make them better plants and he doesn't seek notoriety.  There are too many factors that go in to what makes a plant worthy of introduction to make an accurate list.
'I am often best guided by serendipity. I may follow a direction for a while then something will pop up and redirect me…some things are so unexpected, for instance, “ I didn’t know hostas could do that !! “…next thing I know I am using the “new” look in my breeding program.'
    

Afterglow

    Ron's advice for the new hybridizer is 'The green world is full of many miracles, don’t think one will not happen to you. Don’t let you hobbies become jobs, maintain “sane” limits on them'
 

Tenny Up

   More on Ron Livingston and pictures of more of his Hosta introductions can be seen here.   http://www.foosf.com/ron.php