The grocery store minis are regular roses but the companies that produce them just don't always bother to register them. They do list names on their web sites but they're also known for interchanging those names with several different roses. So if a place orders a gross of pink minis named Pinkie they may get any one of a half dozen different pink roses the company has available at the time to fill the order. Sometimes if the rose is very distinctive you can match them up but if it's just a pink rose you probably will never know which one it is. And you have to be sort of careful because I have gotten a couple that turned out not to be minis after all. They were small when I got them as little potted cuttings but when planted grew to be floribunda size blooms in the end.

Marg, The seeds for the reds I got from a trade. They are still quite small, and if they make it through this winter, I'll be surprised. I'll be keeping them in the holding bed over the winter with a good mulch. Since I got them from a trade, I'm waiting to see if they come true to put them in the ground so it might be next year by the time I do that. I'm surprised that your Buddleias don't make it. Do you wait long enough to determine they haven't made it through? Mine sometimes only surface in early June, but then they catch-up quickly. They are late risers. Bonnie, I instinctively knew I had that zonal thing wrong, but went against my better judgement. :O) Thanks for the correction. Appreciate it! My tops die back too, but last year one didn't. I let it grow. It went to 12 to 14 feet and was HUGE. But that's the last time I won't trim back. Out of 4 mature ones I have, it's THE one that died this past winter. One which is only 1.5 feet away is doing fine. Sorry to hear that you lost yours this past winter. I'll definitely have some seeds of the lavender if you want some. You too Marg! Would be nice to get seeds of that new one - you know the bi-colored one?!

Dr. Manners, went back and did more reading on the biosynthesis of anthocyanins, and you are indeed correct. Although the components that produce the end product - anthocyanin are of course transported to the site (pulp and peel for citrus), they are "assembled" for lack of a better word, on site in the vacuoles of the cell where the pigment is displayed. Actually, (shockingly?), Wikipedia has a very nice synopsis of the biosynthesis of anthocyanin, and the entry is well-referenced. Now, that all being said, my biochemistry is OLD (can we say 1980?), so pretty rusty, but yes, you're quite correct - happens in the peel and pulp, and the anthocyanin can travel to the pulp from the peel, even after picking. And since there are several enzymes responsible for the creation of anthocyanin, there can be any number of genetic or environmental factors which can affect anthocyanin synthesis. So, some years you may get very pigmented oranges, and other years, not so much, even from a tree with good anthocyanin "genes". What I found very interesting as an aside, is that pretty reddish tint you see in a rose's new growth is caused by juvenile anthocyanin. I wonder where it goes though, after the leaves mature and turn green? Or does it NOT go anywhere, but is "overruled" by chlorophyll?? Travel to the red petals of the flower (red/dark pink roses have much redder new leaves). Guess that's another topic for another forum, lol!! I will always defer to your expertise, I am no biochemist for sure!! Patty S.

Where I work (Hollywood Fla) LOTS of people and businesses have them as hedges. Very few seem to be well cared for, but the trimmed, watered, and fed (near nice lawns) always seem to taste the best. I walk around the neighborhood after lunch and sample them all often. Many are the dark purple nearly black types and when they are firm they taste like kerosene (yes unfortunately I have tasted it) and when softer they are very sweet. The red ones are IMO inedible. Based on this, I bought four of (hopefully) the purple ones last year to plant around my AC unit and am waiting for fruit. I can say this, on my "tasting" walks I see the most fruit in mid summer.