Hommel Mangas
I’m writing this just a few days before the big event — the Johnson County Garden Celebration. There will be more than 80 vendors at the Johnson County fairgrounds this morning, and I am one of them.
And as I try to gather up my benchcards and “product,” as some plant-people call their babies, I wonder what my fellow vendors are doing today.
I’m a new grower in Johnson County, and it takes a bit too long to print out informational plant bench-cards probably because every single plant that I grow has a personal story attached to it.
Hosta “Munchkin Fire” is a bright chartreuse mini hosta that originated from Indiana hybridizer Randy Goodwin. I had the pleasure of taking photos and writing a feature article about the Mr. Goodwin’s garden published in the now defunct Indiana Gardening Magazine and reprinted in the Online Hosta Journal.
Back in the day, Randy invited me to an Indianapolis Hosta Society presentation and I was addicted. That’s how it starts — with a simple invitation.
Hosta “Rainbow’s End” (2021), “Autumn Frost” (2022), and “Neptune (2023) are all American Hosta Society Benedict Garden Performance Medalists, which means they were awarded the top award for growing and performing in gardens across the U.S.
More specifically, these are “garden-worthy plants that have passed the test of time, that exhibit cultural superiority, and that can be appreciated in the landscape both from a distance and close observation.” These and a myriad of others that I now grow to sell and continue to use in my own garden designs were hybridized by Hans Hansen, a talented young man who heads the Walter’s Garden, Inc. hybridization team in Zeeland, Michigan.
I had the opportunity to meet Hansen during the 2021 pandemic years when the American Hosta Society had their first virtual convention — I dropped by his workplace to present the Eunice Fisher Distinguished Hybridizer Merit Award and take photos for the online presentation.
Since I had the honor to introduce him and present the award, I got the chance to ask a few background questions. I was instantly impressed when he shared that when he was a young teen in FFA, he had to do a project, which is when he asked his leader if it’d be okay to hybridize lilies. Hansen hybridized Asiatic lilies, working to develop doubles, pollen-free varieties, and those with dark patterned throats — as a teenager.
In case you were wondering, I also sell Hosta “Hans” and Hosta “Diamond Lake,” the latter which Hansen selected as the Eunice Fisher Distinguished Merit Hosta from among his own hosta hybrids as the recipient’s favorite.
Obviously, I can’t put all this info on the plant bench cards, no matter how important I think it is. Most people will just want to buy plants and that’s OK.
But if you see me go ahead and ask me what No. 1 garden tip I learned when Steve and I visited Hansen’s beautiful home garden.
See you at the fairgrounds today from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.!
Janet Hommel Mangas grew up on the east side of Greenwood. The Center Grove area resident and her husband are the parents of three daughters. Send comments to [email protected].
