This small size hosta has deep blue foliage with thick substance. It was originated by Dr. Ralph (Herb) Benedict of Michigan and registered by him and Dr. Bob Olson of Minnesota in 1997. The pale lavender flowers are borne in clusters on 10 inch scapes. The plant is a self-pollinated seedling of H. 'Dorset Blue' and very slowly grows to be a small size (9 inches high) clump is about 18 inches wide. Its foliage has thick substance and is considered slug resistant.

The Hostapedia by Mark Zilis (2009), says that this plant falls into a category of "cultivars that exhibit many Tardiana traits but are not a part of Eric Smith's original group."
 

The Hosta Journal (1993 Vol. 24 No. 2) contained an article by Dr Bob Olson regarding a visit he and others made to the garden of Dr Ralph (Herb) Benedict. "We spent the afternoon looking at the end result of his marvelous hybridization scheme. Dr. Benedict would recite the perfect logic by which such crosses were conceived and executed.

Tardianas to the F-6 generation were created by crossing the most fertile of one hundred 'Dorset Blue's with their most fertile offspring. He ended up creating more new Tardianas than Eric Smith had done. (Smith was thwarted at the F-3 generation when he ran into relatively sterile plants.)

The blues Dr. Benedict chose to name are all rather small and very blue indeed. In order of decreasing size: 'Blue Jay', 'Blue Ice', 'Blue Chip', and the smallest of the lot 'Blue Urchin'...Somehow in his crosses he came up with a pure Tardiana hybrid which is streaked and splashed - and give variegated seedlings (often fifty percent or more)...he produced a 'Dorothy Benedict'-like-Tardiana, 'Dorset Clown'. The possibilities of this plant ignited our imaginations: can you envision a whole series of variegated Tardiana offspring?"