Dive into Season One and Two of Hosta la Vista podcast!
Listen to all of season one, where the shade is cool, the leaves are lush, and the friendships perennial.
Season One Episodes:
Explore our podcast episodes filled with expert shade gardening advice, engaging stories, and practical tips to help your garden thrive.
Episode One: Meet Your Hosts
Every podcast has an origin story. This is ours.
Welcome to the very first episode of Hosta la Vista — the only podcast dedicated entirely to hosta plants, hosta care, and the growers, collectors, and hybridizers who love them. If you’re looking for the perfect shade garden plant, a low maintenance perennial that comes back bigger every year, or just the most welcoming corner of the plant collecting community — this is your show.
In this debut episode, sisters Betsy Peterson and Mandy Olson introduce themselves, share how they each fell deep into the world of hostas, and explain why the hosta community deserves its own podcast. Two sisters, two climate zones, two completely different gardens — and one shared obsession with the friendship plant.
Episode Two: Alisa Bowe Lenhardt
This week on Hosta la Vista, we welcome Alisa Bowe Lenhardt — hosta grower, fine artist, nationally certified hosta show judge, flower arranging expert, and member of the legendary Bowe family from Ohio, one of the most respected names in the hosta hybridizing world.
Episode Three: Ben Matthews
Pack your wellies and a good umbrella — Hosta La Vista is heading to England.
This week Betsy and Mandy cross the Atlantic to sit down with Ben Matthews of Worcester, England — curator of one of the most fascinating and historically significant hosta collections in the world. Ben holds the Plant Heritage designated British National Hosta Collection, focusing specifically on British hybridized hosta introductions from 1976 to 2016, comprising 32 species and an additional 350 cultivars — all tucked into a shade tunnel in a small suburban garden just three minutes from the M5. Because sometimes the most extraordinary things come in the most unassuming packages.
Episode Four: AHS Convention
We’re bringing you highlights and field reports from the American Hosta Society’s annual convention 2025, whether you were there and want to relive the magic — or missed it and need to know what went down, like me — this one’s for you.
Episode Five: David Bowe
This week on Hosta La Vista, Betsy and Mandy sit down with hosta hybridizer David Bowe — a man who spent decades breeding some of the most personality-packed cultivars in the hosta world, relocated to Miami, and refused to stop being curious about plants. He just had to find different ones.
Episode Six: Olga Petryszyn
This week on Hosta La Vista, Betsy and Mandy are fully fangirling — and we make no apologies. We are joined by the one and only Olga Petryszyn of Northern Indiana — known worldwide as The Hosta Lady, winner of the prestigious Eunice Fisher Distinguished Hybridizer Award, Master Judge of the American Hosta Society, and the creative force behind some of the most beloved hosta cultivars in existence.
Episode Seven: Don Rawson
This week on Hosta la Vista, we sit down with Don Rawson — hosta hybridizer, curator of the legendary Hosta List database, creator of the Hostas of Distinction website, and one of the most quietly influential figures in the entire hosta world. Don grows on four acres near Grand Rapids, Michigan, makes up to 11,000 intentional crosses per summer starting at 6:00 AM, plants around 20,000 seeds per year, and has introduced over 20 cultivars including Rhinohide, Gabriel’s Wing, Razorback, Alligator Rock, Granny’s Goosebumps, Catcher’s Mitt, Gator Bowl, and Gatorhide. This is the episode hosta collectors and hybridizers have been waiting for.
Episode Eight: Dr. Mary Albrecht
This week on Hosta la Vista, we sit down with Dr. Mary Lewnes Albrecht — horticulture professor, Master Gardener, botanic garden volunteer, communications director of the East Tennessee Hosta Society, and Vice President of Genus for the American Hosta Society. Mary brings a rare combination of academic depth and genuine gardener’s heart to everything she does, and this conversation is one of our favorites.
Episode Nine: Barb Rauckhorst
This week, Betsy and Mandy head to Cuyahoga County, Ohio to sit down with Barb Rauckhorst — President of the North Coast Hosta Society, proud Master Gardener, and someone whose personal connection to the garden goes well beyond beautiful leaves and shade beds. Barb’s story touches on something that stopped Betsy in her tracks: horticultural therapy — the practice of using gardening and plant-based activities to support healing, wellness, and mental health.
Episode Ten: Kathy Pedersen
This week on Hosta La Vista, Betsy and Mandy sit down with Kathy for one of the warmest, funniest, and most insightful conversations we’ve had yet. Kathy is a grower, a guide, and the heart behind one of the Midwest’s most beloved award-winning cottage shade gardens — a private wonderland that visitors can actually experience in person, by appointment.
Episode Eleven: Andy Marlow
This week on Hosta La Vista, Betsy and Mandy sit down with Andy Marlow of Hopkins, Minnesota — former President of the American Hosta Society, Photo Editor of The Hosta Journal, master photographer, retired college radio host, and hosta renaissance man. Andy has been growing hostas since 1979 and has spent decades shaping how the hosta community sees and shares these beloved plants.
Episode Twelve: Chuck Doughty
This week on Hosta la Vista, we sit down with Chuck Doughty — owner of Cochato Nursery in Massachusetts and newly elected President of the American Hosta Society. Chuck is a 35-year veteran of the hosta world, a hybridizer, collector, grower, and one of the most passionate voices in the hosta community today. This conversation covers everything from how a single plant — Francis Williams — launched a lifelong obsession, to what it really takes to build a respected shade garden nursery from scratch on a small plot of land behind an 1820 farmhouse.
Episode Thirteen: Hornbaker Gardens
If Hornbaker Gardens isn’t already on your must-visit list, it’s about to be. This week on Hosta La Vista, Betsy and Mandy sit down with Dave Hornbaker, second-generation co-owner of one of Illinois’ most beloved destination nurseries — a place that grew from a dream on a patch of prairie into a full-scale garden center, event venue, and hosta lover’s paradise.
Episode Fourteen: David Teager
This week on Hosta La Vista, Betsy and Mandy sit down with one of the most genuinely multifaceted contributors in the hosta world — AHS Judge Emeritus, YouTube educator, Facebook community admin, web designer, seed grower, and all around hosta revolutionary.
Episode Fifteen: The Excellent Midwest Hosta Visit
This week on Hosta La Vista, Betsy and Mandy sit down with Julie Lewter and Susan Ragsdale of the Hosta Society of North Alabama to relive their legendary 2024 Excellent Midwest Hosta Visit — a road trip so thoroughly documented on Facebook that their followers watched in real time as a perfectly normal SUV slowly transformed into a mobile jungle. By the time they crossed back into Alabama, there was considerably more green and considerably less legroom than when they left.
Episode Sixteen: Lazy Toad Farm
This week on Hosta La Vista, Betsy and Mandy sit down with the dynamic duo behind one of Minnesota’s most delightfully unexpected farms — a place where over 1,000 hosta varieties grow alongside handcrafted pickles, cut flower CSA subscriptions, honey, and a merch shop that fully understands the assignment. It’s the kind of place that names a doormat after a hosta called Striptease and sells mugs celebrating varieties like Hanky Panky — because why wouldn’t you.
Episode Seventeen: Josh Spece
This week on Hosta La Vista, Betsy and Mandy sit down with Josh Spece to dig into how he built one of the Midwest’s most respected hosta destinations from the ground up, with his family by his side every step of the way. We talk about how he curates his standout collection, what goes into selecting exclusive varieties, and how he balances a thriving mail-order business with the in-person magic of his nursery events.
Episode Eighteen: Danny Lawson
Danny is the Editor of The Hosta Journal, President of the Wichita Hosta Society, and one of the most quietly respected voices in the American hosta community. He was also instrumental in bringing the AHS display hosta garden to Botanica — Wichita’s beloved botanical garden — putting his hometown firmly on the national hosta map.
Episode Nineteen: Sebright Gardens
Mandy made the trip from the Midwest to Salem, Oregon to walk the four acres of display gardens at Sebright Gardens — and came back with stories worth sharing. We sit down with co-founder Kirk Hansen to talk about how he’s built a living collection of over 1,000 hosta varieties alongside hardy ferns and epimediums, making Sebright one of the largest shade-garden nurseries west of the Mississippi.
Episode Twenty: Gail and David Russo
Learn how the Russos grow and sell hosta seeds through Facebook’s Seed Growers group, overwinter seedlings, and collaborate with a nursery to bring new varieties to market. Whether you’re curious about hosta seed growing for beginners, fall garden prep, or how to design a diverse shade garden, this episode is packed with actionable advice.
Season Two Episodes:
Enjoy the complete season two of Hosta La Vista.
Episode One: Bob Solberg
If you’ve ever grown Guacamole, Curly Fries, or First Frost, you’ve already met Bob Solberg’s work. In this Season 2 premiere of Hosta La Vista, we sit down with the legendary hybridizer behind Green Hill Hostas — a nursery that grew from a backyard passion project into one of the most respected names in hosta breeding worldwide.
Episode Two: Doug Beilstein
The countdown is on for the upcoming American Hosta Society Ohio Convention happening June 11–13 in Dublin, Ohio, and we’re joined by longtime hosta enthusiast, hybridizer, and organizing committee member Doug Beilstein to share an insider preview of one of the gardening world’s most anticipated summer weekends.
Episode Three: Al Ritchey
Only hosta people would find this perfectly normal. Pull into a working auto body shop on a back road in Walworth, Wisconsin — the smell of primer in the air, cars in the bays — and then walk around back to discover one of the most breathtaking hosta arboretums in the Midwest. That’s exactly what awaits at Al’s Auto Body & Arboretum (), where owner and self-described “owner, operator, weeder, waterer, planter, potter, and slug-slayer” Al Ritchey has spent over three decades quietly building a five-acre hosta paradise beneath a canopy of oak, hickory, and walnut trees.
Episode Four: Christina Brinkmann
Meet Christina Brinkmann — the passionate hosta hybridizerfrom Gütersloh, Germany, who has been quietly revolutionizing the hosta world since 2013. With over 2,900 hosta varieties growing in her garden alongside thousands of seedlings, Christina is one of Europe’s most exciting and innovative breeders, and in this episode, she brings her warmth, knowledge, and infectious love of the plant straight to your earbuds.
Episode Five: Dr. Warren Pollock
In this rare and deeply personal episode, we sit down with Dr. Warren I. Pollock — scholar, writer, and one of the most beloved figures in the American Hosta Society — for a conversation that is as much about people as it is about plants. Warren reflects on a lifetime of friendship with the icons who built the hosta world: Alex Summers, John and Gertrude Wister, Eunice Fisher, Gunther Stark, Russ O’Hara, David Teager, Don Rawson, Gail Hartley Alley, and the legendary Ben Zonneveld of the Netherlands — among many others whose passion and dedication shaped a community that endures to this day.
Episode Six: Brett Arenz
This week on Hosta La Vista, Betsy and Mandy are joined by Brett Arenz, Director of the Plant Disease Clinic at the University of Minnesota, to talk all things hosta disease, hosta viruses, and plant diagnostics.
Episode Seven: Pam Knox
In this episode of Hosta la Vista, sisters Mandy and Betsy sit down with Pam Knox, agricultural climatologist and Director of the Weather Network at the University of Georgia, to unpack the headlines surrounding the possible 2026–2027 Super El Niño and what it could mean for gardening across the U.S. this fall, winter, and into next spring.
Episode Eight: Doug Ruff part 1
In Part 1 of this special podcast episode, we visit Hosta hybridizer Doug Ruff at his home for an exclusive, nearly two-hour tour of his private breeding program. Best known as the creator of the wildly popular and hard-to-find Bloodline Hosta, Doug gives us a rare behind-the-scenes look at the plants, techniques, and growing setup that have made his work so respected among hosta collectors. How he keeps his plants watered even amongst the upcoming El Niño this Fall.
Episode Nine: Doug Ruff part 2
Join Hosta la Vista this week for Part 2 of our exclusive interview with renowned hosta hybridizer Doug Ruff — the breeder behind some of the most sought-after hosta cultivars on the market, including Hosta- Bloodline, Light the Match, Electric Fire, Violet Blue, and many more.
Episode Ten: 2026 AHS Convention
In this episode, we take you inside the 2026 American Hosta Society Convention in Dublin, Ohio (June 10–13), with firsthand insights from attendees Cheryl Lockhart, Andy Marlow, Susan Ragsdale, and Julie Lewter. Whether you attended or missed it, this recap covers everything hosta lovers care about.
Episode Eleven: Chris VandenBosche
Horticultural therapy is changing the way we think about health, healing, and well-being. In this episode of Hosta la Vista, hosts Betsy and Mandy talk with Chris VandenBosche, a Pittsburgh-area Master Gardener and registered horticultural therapist, about what horticultural therapy is, how practitioners are credentialed, and why working with plants can support people in many different stages of life.
Episode Twelve: Hosta Hybridizing 101
In this special “Best of Season 1” episode of Hosta la Vista, we’re bringing together some of the most respected voices in Hosta hybridizing: David Teager, Olga Petryszyn, Don Rawson, and David Bowe.
Episode Thirteen: Stacy Ling
This week on Hosta la Vista: The Friendship Plant Podcast, Betsy Peterson and Mandy Olson welcome gardening expert, author, Master Gardener, YouTuber, and Bricks ‘n Blooms founder Stacy Ling.
Episode Fourteen: Neil Diboll
In this thought-provoking episode of Hosta La Vista: The Friendship Plant Podcast, Betsy and Mandy sit down with native plant pioneer Neil Diboll, President of Prairie Nursery in Westfield, Wisconsin, and one of North America’s leading voices on native landscaping. Neil has spent more than four decades helping gardeners understand how native plants can create beautiful, sustainable landscapes while supporting pollinators, birds, and local ecosystems.
Episode Fifteen: Jonathan Hogarth
This week on Hosta La Vista, Betsy and Mandy welcome Jonathan Hogarth of Hogarth Hostas, holder of the UK’s National Collection of Small and Miniature Hostas and newly crowned RHS Chelsea Flower Show Gold Medal winner. After years of exhibiting at Britain’s most famous flower shows and collecting multiple silver and silver-gilt medals, Jonathan achieved the highest honor in horticulture with his 2026 Chelsea display of miniature hostas.
Episode Sixteen: Lonna Engel
On this episode of Hosta La Vista: The Friendship Plant Podcast, Betsy and Mandy explore the inspiration, creativity, and dedication behind one of the most captivating private hosta gardens in the country. Lonna shares how she designed her collection to feel more like a living museum, where every pathway reveals new hostas, garden art, and unexpected surprises.
Episode Seventeen: Nick Ternes
This week on Hosta La Vista: The Friendship Plant Podcast, Betsy and Mandy welcome Nick Ternes, owner of Botanophilia LLC, hosta hybridizer, nursery owner, garden educator, speaker, and self-described plant geek. Known throughout the gardening world for his deep knowledge of hostas, shade gardening, trees, shrubs, and rare plants, Nick has spent decades helping gardeners create landscapes that are both beautiful and sustainable.
Episode Eighteen: Midwest Regional
In this special mid-week episode of Hosta La Vista: The Friendship Plant Podcast, Betsy and Mandy recap their trip to the Midwest Regional Hosta Society’s 50th Anniversary Convention, held July 9–12 in Madison, Wisconsin. From educational sessions and garden tours to hosta shopping and connecting with fellow enthusiasts from across the Midwest, the sisters share their favorite memories from a convention they won’t soon forget.
Episode Nineteen: The Hosta Stop
In this episode, Betsy and Mandy welcome nearly the entire Giese family—Mike, Kelly, Michael, Christina, Carisa, Kyle, and even a few grandkids—from The Hosta Stop Gardens in Plover, Wisconsin. Together, they’ve built a family business that has become a must-visit destination for Hosta collectors across North America. The nursery has grown from a few hundred varieties into thousands of Hostas, companion plants, display gardens, online sales, and a thriving hybridizing program.
Episode Twenty: Rob Mortko
Rob takes us inside the fascinating world of Hosta tissue culture (TC), explaining how the process works, why growers rely on it, and the advantages it offers for producing healthy, consistent plants. He also shares some of the challenges and drawbacks of tissue culture, helping gardeners understand both sides of this important propagation method.
Episode Twenty-One: Uniquely Hostas
Big changes are coming for Uniquely Hostas! In this episode of Hosta la Vista: The Friendship Plant Podcast, we sit down with Justin and Andrea Geske to discuss an exciting new chapter for their business as they prepare for a major move this September.
Episode Twenty-Two: Hosta Road Trippers
In this penultimate episode of Season 2, we welcome Susan Ragsdale and Julie Lewter, the dynamic duo behind the popular Midwest Hosta Visit Facebook community, for an unforgettable recap of their epic Midwest Hosta adventure.
Episode Twenty-Three: Bob Solberg
Season 2 comes full circle as Betsy and Mandy welcome back legendary Hosta hybridizer Bob Solberg of Green Hill Hostas to reflect on the biggest moments of the 2026 Hosta season and look ahead to what Hosta enthusiasts can expect in 2027 and beyond.
Betsy Peterson & Mandy Olson
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