So did you buy it?

;o)

Nope. I don't think I even checked the price since it was likely much more than I would be willing to pay. Just hopeful the one I have looks similar in color in a few years. Need to move it because it gets too much sun I think.

You have way more willpower than me . Thats why I have so many doubles of things.

Kind of looks like the new Strawberry Sundae. I guess VS goes all pink and doesn't retain any of its vanilla then?

You know what? That explained my original reaction to the picture but it did not sink until you commented.

I too was curious about how long the bi-color phase would last. I assumed start all white, turn bicolor, turn all pink and then brown but, all the pictures that people posted had white&pink. Can't blame them since it looks so nice. But I couldn't get/find pictures taken in late September or October to confirm that VS would turn all pink at the end of the growing season, like many other paniculatas do.

I guess this confirms it! Ha! Thanks for picture, gumneck.

Luis

PS - now would it not be nice if VS retained the white-pink bicolor even longer and then turned the blooms brown? Hmmm, sounds like an idea for Vanilla Strawberry II.

I came across VS at the HD in Minneapolis in August at half price so I picked it up despite not looking very healthy. This pic is taken in MN when I first got it. Then I took it back to Texas. It survived the road trip but the bottom side of the flowers are turning light green. Probably the heat did that to it and I live in an apt so it will have to stay in a pot. Right now, it's not cold enough to turn pink or red here. I hope the heat won't kill the flower before it happens. I will post a pic of the now in the next message.

Here is the now.