Where do all those beautiful new cultivars of hosta come from anyway? Well, from people! A cultivar means a cultivated variety which means that it is being grown by people and is not found in nature (that would be a species). The people who discover or propagate a new looking hosta and then register them are known as the originators.

The American Hosta Society is currently in charge of the International Hosta Registry. A volunteer from the group acts as the International Registrar for the Genus Hosta.

When a hosta is registered, the form asks for the name of the person who: 1. Originated the cultivar i.e. hybridized it, found it, etc.; 2. Named the cultivar; 3. Introduced it into distribution; and 4. Registered it. In most cases, the answer to all 4 is the same. However, there are times when all 4 or any combination of the names may be different.

The following list is of people who have either registered or originated a cultivar or both. In some cases, multiple people are listed for a single cultivar or a person has registered a cultivar on behalf of someone else. Although most of the originators are from the U.S. a significant group are also from other countries in the world.