Wow, you have superb recall Chris! I stopped in at a local nursery where the guy there who grows most of their tropical trees gave me some suggestions. (He only works one day a week there. When I stopped in earlier in the week, none of the other folks could identify the picture, leaves or seeds that I brought with me.) But this guy has seen the tree before, even if he's never owned or cultivated them. But after having a name, I was off to a much better start than when I could only walk around with a few seeds in my hand, asking a bunch of questions. Now I'm excited and ready to give it a try! I've tried a few times the past 2 years, unsuccessfully, so now I'm feeling much more confident. Again, thank you. Jim

Henry, it's a Kalanchoe, probably Kalanchoe prolifera, aka Blooming Boxes. I'd need to see more of the foliage to be 100% certain, but the flowers appear to be a match.

purple, in other photos from EU countries, I saw prices which didn't use the Euro symbol. I linked to that particular photo to show that the same model of yellow price tag is used in Italy. Some of the tags in the other photos had a comma where we use the decimal point (the comma is European usage); I'm not sure if there's a comma in the photo above. At least one photo showed the last two numbers underlined (as Americans underline the cents). I think there were others with the entire price underlined. Many years ago, my parents lived in Belgium. Prices of everything were much higher than in the U.S. Food, gas, everything in stores. (I think the same was true the last time I was in Britain.) So I'm not surprised by the price of the mum. And maybe it's a high-end store where all the prices are high just to make you think they're ultra exclusive mums.... As for the gradient coloring, ombre (shaded; variegated) yarn has been sold for many decades. I know how low-tech crafters make it, though I have no idea what the big yarn-producers do. So the gradient-dyed fiber is the easy part. Then, maybe, chunks of dyed fiber are clamped together and glued to a piece of something-or-other. Then the piece is attached to the top of the "trunk". (I'm sure there are other ways to do it.)

I would guess Italian Cypress just from looking at the picture. Not quite enough to go on.