Note: Paul Aden completed the registration process for many, many hosta cultivars in the early days and, by implication, he was also given the credit for hybridizing or originating them. In recent years, there have been challenges made to several of these early registrations causing Kevin Walek, International Registrar for the Genus Hosta to make the following statement in the 2011 Registrations Report:

"Controversy Regarding Certain Registered Hostas: It has come to the attention of the Registrar that there is a serious controversy over the origin of many plants introduced and registered in such a way that they may be interpreted to have been originated by Paul Aden. It has been reported that many of these plants were originated by others, many of the top hybridizers of the day, including Kevin Vaughn, Chet Tompkins, Florence Shaw, and possibly several others, as well as a number of Japanese cultivars and in many cases were obtained by Paul Aden ostensibly for trial purposes or, in yet other cases, through allegedly nefarious means. To the knowledge of the Registrar, no litigation has issued against Paul or his estate to establish true ownership of numerous cultivars, and the passage of time may have rendered these cases impossible as beyond statutes of limitation, or due to the absence of a solid chain of evidence. Nevertheless, the number of cases of disputed origination is significant. Therefore an “*” will be placed by the Registrar, in the space designated for “originator” on all Aden registrations. The “*” is intended to indicate that the origin of this plant is undocumented and is not considered originated by Aden."

Although registered by Paul Aden, the following hostas were actually hybridized or originated by Florence Shaw : H. 'Sum and Substance' the 2004 "Hosta of the Year", H. 'Big Daddy', H. 'Blue Angel', and H. 'Flamboyant'.

Aden was noted for not divulging the background of his hostas. Many were registered with just a numbered hosta as the parent plant. Click Here for a list of those plants.