Cherish is a weak grower in my experience. It is one of the series of Baby Bunting sports.

Baby Bunting is a good, easy to grow small hosta that was originated here in Minnesota by the Savory family. Until Blue Mouse Ears took the market by storm, it was the go-to small, round-leaved blue.

Hans Hansen at Shady Oaks developed a series of sports from BB. First was Pandora's Box - white-centered and not as good a grower as BB, but still considered not too difficult. PB became very popular.

We all hoped for the obvious next sport, the white-margined sport... one would predict it would be an even better grower than PB because of the additional chlorophyll - but Hans through us a curve...

The next sport released from the family was Hope... almost a reverse, but the margin wasn't white but rather yellow-to-cream. It also surprised us as it wasn't nearly as strong a grower as BB OR PB.

The name, however, was great... After Pandora opened the box and all the ills flew out, the last remaining item in the box was Hope.

We still were hopeful for the "reversed PB" and a continuation of the good Greek mythology naming. Instead, the next release was Cherish. It is basically a reverse of Hope, and the name went a totally different direction, and it was also not a strong grower.

Finally, Hans released the white-margined sport, the real reverse of PB. It's called Cameo and is a particularly weak grower. And the name seems to be completely unrelated...

I have the whole group together, but for those who started with BB and PB and were hoping to expand the family, the rest are something of a disappointment. You can grow Cherish, but baby it as much as any weak mini you have... and don't expect it to ever get to be a larger mound like BB and PB will...

There is considerable variety in size in the rest of your group.

As I said, BB will grow easily, if slowly, and will eventually make a small, rather than mini, mound...I've seen lots of nice 18" or greater clumps of it. I have a lot of fondness for this old standard.

Limey Lisa - expands by rhizomes, so you can let it get as large or keep it as small as you like - very easy, no fuss...

Popcorn - does get cute popcorn corrugation... mine has grown very very slowly, but it hasn't faded away - they claim it is supposed to grow to a 2 foot clump...

Heavenly Tiara - a sport from the tetraploid Grand Tiara. I collected the whole Golden Tiara family, so I was very excited when Walters started naming and releasing a second family of tetraploids. To be honest, this family ended up being a great tetraploid disappointment. Amber Tiara is nothing special. Grand Prize is nice, but not nearly as strong as the parent. Heavenly Tiara is the tetraploid equivalent of Platinum Tiara. Mine have lived for years, but never have thrived... Probably a good choice for a small area as mine never spread to the size one would expect from a Grand Tiara sport. And don't even ask me about Gold Heart - I took a bath on those tcs!

First Frost - great sport of Halcyon and a medium, not small... unlike El Nino, which emerges and stays white margined, FF starts with a yellowish hosta which then makes the color change through cream toward white. Hosta of the Year next year (though I prefer El Nino). Still - great hosta.

Lemon Lime - love this workhorse of a small hosta. Makes a very tight clump of ripply chartreuse leaves... you can chop it up and make many, year after year. I also like it as the parent of a family that I grow together... Lemon Delight, Twist of Lime, Lemon Frost, Iced Lemon, and Lime Fizz..

and about the dwarf bleeding heart. If it is, as I suspect, one of the "fringed" bleeding hearts, with smaller, more finely cut foliage - often sold as 'Luxuriant' but there are some other names... it reblooms - I've got a bunch blooming now and really I don't think there is anytime since the spring bloom that I couldn't find at least one with blooms on it. If you neglect your weeding around it for a year, you should get lots of them - it is a prolific seeder and the new seedlings will often bloom later in the summer.

OK - more than you asked... but DW said I could only reply to one posting before we head out to celebrate our 40th anniversary...

Does anyone else have comments regarding the hardiness of Cherish and Hope as mentioned earlier? Are they universally difficult to grow?

~ freshair