| What gets called 'heather' is a quite varied group of plants -- mostly true heathers (genus Calluna) and the heaths (species/hybrids of genus Erica). They have very different mature sizes, and different growth rates. So... what I'm saying is that if the little/slow growing one looks healthy and has new growth all around, it is very likely to be FINE - just a smaller variety. As for identifying them, I suspect you'll need to watch them over the course of a year to get enough info... even then, you might not be absolutely sure. Factors that you'll want to know to narrow things down are: - time of bloom
- bloom color
- summer foliage color
- winter foliage color
- color of new growth ("spring tips") At this point, you probably could determine whether they are Callunas or Ericas... Callunas don't exactly have leaves; their "foliage" is sort of like fine scale. Ericas have more fine, needle-like foliage. Two heath & heather nurseries with on-line information include: www.heathsandheathers.com and
www.rockspray.com Finally... sounds like you got the Garden Bug!! :) | 
