Hi!
Yeah it was even worse as he told my mom that "He was going to make me rich." and she even made him lunch as he was stealing us blind! He ended up selling the plants he had stolen to Klehm's Nursery for a large paycheck. I'm still waiting for mine! Of course I was a poor grad student at the time and couldn't really fight "the hosta giant".
Luckily most of history is now coming to light. We have data that almost all of "his" early hybrids, including Sum and Substance, were created by Florence Shaw, all the fragrant ones and a number of the variegated ones were stolen from my yard. Florence Shaw was very sick when he came and raided her property. Skunk may be too nice a word for what he did!
The hosta registrar has now voided most of the Aden registrations, naming him only as the "registrant" not the "originator".
And THANKFULLY most plant people are not like that and I have made so many great and enduring friends through plants.
As Lynn Smith can tell you, my you, my yard is one big hybridizing project, with programs in daffodils, penstemon, pulmonaria, hellebores, sedum,.daylilies, Sempervivum, iris of all types, hardy geraniums, and hosta. It is such fun to go to the yard each morning to see what new thing is blooming.
Kevin
