Diana DeCaire has written a novel called, "Deadly Blue Daylily", a cozy mystery about "theft and greed in the daylily world". Of course I'm going to purchase it.
But I've seen some comments about the unseemly side to the daylily industry, and am wondering if there truly is a dark side to daylilies? The sellers and hybridizers that I've had the pleasure to know have all seemed like very good people, though I know there are bad apples in every barrel. It makes me sad to think that the pleasure that I get from daylilies could be "tainted", in a way.
Is there really a problem with that much theft and greed? Or is it exaggerated as a literary device?

I am sure people would not want to be on the record to name names. But they can talk in general terms and hypotheticals, perhaps.

How would you define theft and greed, though?
Only patented daylilies are truly protected when it comes to intellectual property.
So, big box retailers can produce and sell non-protected creations of others. Probably without the original hybridizer seeing a single cent (I hope that is not the case, but suspect otherwise). That is pretty greedy. But then again, it makes them a household name, so people might seek out their other creations directly from them. So a little bit of theft on one hand made them much more money on the other hand.

But I think you mean specifically from one hybridizer to another, right?

plasko20 said: But I think you mean specifically from one hybridizer to another, right?

I don't know, I haven't read the book yet; but it's not being called "a murder mystery", so I'm assuming it would be about bad acts committed between hybridizers.

I don't have an Amazon account, so I'm going to have to get one of my kids to order it for me before I can read it.

'The Mule' is about how Day Lilies can lead to a life of crime. The title character isn't particularly villainous though.