Hi All--Today's variety, Cherry Berry, is a problem plant for me and many other gardeners. On the plus side, it has attractive foliage and nice red scapes. On the negative side, it's foliage becomes burned out and the plant has a slow growth rate. The plant also needs slug protection. I have had it since 1999, growing in a spot that gets a couple of hours of direct sun during the middle of the summer. In the five years starting in 2001 it measured 13x6, 17x10, 20x11, 25x13 and 27x13. That put it right in line with Zilis' 28x12.
CB is the only Hosta I've ever purchased that didn't make it. I bought it and 'June' at the annual sale @ the Van Dusen Gardens sale about 4 years ago. Both were single shoot TC's and where J has gone on to become a favourite of ours in the garden, CB never even made it into the following winter. After reading the horror stories of many others with respect to CB I have not bothered to replace it.
Pieter
"Never trust anyone who doesn't have dog hair on their clothes."
If mine looked 1/2 as nice as yours, Hank - I'd be happy. I moved it to a sunnier spot last year hoping it would do better there. Then it got zapped by the cold this spring & not long afterward I had to move it to a holding bed. It's still alive, but it sure doesn't look anything like I hoped it might this year...
I just bought another one, a really nice pot, and was bold enough to put it front and center in one of my raised beds. We'll see if that was bold or just stupid! It is attractive, to be sure, especially the red bloom scapes.
(The other one we had was doing poorly in its location, and is now in the back of one of these raised beds for some recuperation time. Sort of a "hospital ward," with others that need to be babied along a bit.)
This is one I had on my wish list, but after reading all the problems people had with it, I took it off. Your POTD's are are first source for me now, with all the input and varying opinions it helps me make (hopefully) wiser choices!
Claudia
Claudia
"When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest" - John Muir
I had one, once . . . for a while . . . maybe two years . . . In the years since its demise, I've read more and more about CB's reluctance to survive. Too bad . . . but there are too many good ones out there for me to try again with this one!
2 words: SLUG MAGNET
Of every hosta I have this one just must be like chocolate for slugs, as it gets it the worst from them. With the way it looks by the end of the summer I'm surprised to see it back the next year!!
Hate it. It is currently a stump in my yard and has been moved to an ICU pot. It will grow two flabby leaves and then some giant slug from hell will crawl up the pot and eat the leaves and the vicious cycle will continue.
RIP Cherry Berry...right alongside your bitter girlfriend, Pandora's Box!!!!
