I have 2 varieties of fruiting peach, bought last fall, bare root/dormant - 'Reliance' and 'Flat Wonderful'. Both are presently growing red/purple leaves, and both are growing from well above the graft. Whether they will go green as the summer moves on, I don't know. But I bought both on the basis of the description of the fruit, and I will be very upset if they don't bear fruit. Of course, the Japanese beetles may make the whole waiting period moot - they do seem to like peaches! The late frost did in the fruit for this year, despite what I thought was a sheltered spot - there's always next year, I guess.

I'm back with an update after a 3-week break. As you will see in the photo below, my 3-leaf plant is now merely a 3-stalk plant with the normal pairs of leaves on every stalk and branch. It seems as though the 3-leaf trait was only carried by the main stem. Once I piched it back, the main stem ceased all vertical growth, but 3 branches grew where it was pinched instead of the normal 2. Those 3 branches have grown into 3 very healthy stalks, but unfortunately do not share the same 3-leaf trait. Oh well. Disappointed but not discouraged, I decided to try again. I had no idea what the chances were of getting a 3-leaf again, but I figured it was worth a shot. I quickly ordered another packet of the same seeds from the same supplier and germinated them. I'm only 2 days into having some sprouts, but it looks like I may have another 2 or 3 3-leafs coming up! If this is true, it obviously has something to do with this particular strand or batch, because I also germinated a 2nd round of 4 other basil cultivars and not a single one of them has produced a 3-leaf yet...only these Red Rubins. Now, moving forward. If some of these new sprouts do truly turn out to be 3-leafs, I would love to be able to keep this trait going. I'm definitely not going to pinch the main stem so soon (if at all). What I'm curious about is if there is some way to induce branch growth without pinching and sacrificing the main stem. I'm not implying that the branches would have anymore chances of being 3-leaf branches, but at least I'd still have a 3-leaf main stem and a plant with some branches on it. Thoughts? Photos of 3-stalk below. Here is a link that might be useful:

I assume that you are referring to the Purple Ruffles Basil Ocimum basilicum. The following information is from Basil, An Herb Lover's Guide by Thomas DeBaggio & Susan Belsinger. They state the following: The plant results from a cross that Torrey made in 1980 of 'Green Ruffles' and 'Dark Opal'. We grew 'Purple Ruffles' from four sources and discovered considerable variation in the plants produced. One seed sample was highly contaminated with green and green-purple variegated seedlings. Whereas most of our flats produced 130 usable seedlings, this seed produced only 16 true-to-name seedlings. Such incidents cause fears that the 'Purple Ruffles' seedline is drifting into extinction, but even as we write, a number of breeders are conducting rescue efforts. OK, and then there are other "purple basils", some of which are Dark Opal, Osmin, Red Rubin. In the above-mentioned book, it states the following about the Dark Opal: The plant's hybrid parentage may cause its genetic instability when grown from seed; leaf color often varies from plant to plant and large numbers of pure green plants maybe be produced. So if you grew it from seed that might be the cause. And I had a purple ruffles planted in the ground, and the purple leaves slowly died back only to be replaced by the green ruffles basil. I'm not a botanist, so I can't explain it scientifically, but I think the bottom line is that when you grow hybrids they sometimes revert back to their parentage. Anyone out there that knows more than I do, please chime in now.

I read through some old posts and it looks like Skybird has brought the following ones to previous swaps. Probably one of these: Ajuga ‘Arboretum Giant’ – The one with the “biggest” leaves and “tallest” flowers! Ajuga ‘Black Scallop’ – I only have a small patch of this one and it doesn’t spread as much as the others, so this is one I don’t give away very often! Really DARK, shiny leaves (when it’s watered!), and it’s my favorite Ajuga! Ajuga ‘Chocolate Chip’ – The one with the “smallest” leaves and the “shortest” flowers! Ajuga ‘Royalty’ – My regular pretty “bronzy” one! Maybe if you look at pics online of all of them you can figure out which one it is.