During the petal sampling of on-tree flowers, in-vase treat-ment of P. suffruticosa flowers was conducted. Flowers at softbud stage (S1) were trimmed to 25 cm in stem length withall leaves removed and placed with their stem end in 80 mLdistilled water in glass vials (one flower per vial) for in-vasetreatment. Vase conditions were 21–23◦C and 50–60% RH, anda 16 h photoperiod with an illumination of ∼40 mol m−2s−1.The solution was replaced every 24 h. Sampling for anthocyaninaccumulation and gene expression analysis in the in-vase flow-ers at later developmental stages (S2–S5) during vase life wascarried out in the same way as mentioned above for on-tree flowers.