Ummmm, good question, BK. :)

I solved my problem by ignoring both of them. If they live, they live. If they die, I won't be replacing them. I went so far as to volunteer both for the driveway bed, and they have been in the ground for a year now and seem to be doing okay. Small, but okay.

White margins are not my favorite. In general, very few with white margins look acceptable for very long. And there are too many nice ones willing to grow for me to obsess over the whites.

The wider margins come with age. I just checked some old photos of two Patriots I have had and they looked like your Minuteman...to my also uneducated eye. I never did own a Minuteman, but my Patriots would get cupped leaves occasionally, and I didn't like that so they found another home. But I have read that they are often mixed up at the wholesale level, so you cannot always be certain that what you got is indeed one or the other.

-Babka

I love them both but then I really like the white margins I also have one called Twilight that kind of looks the same and also one called Karen but it is a way darker green center,
This is my minute man

This post was edited by almosthooked on Sat, Jul 5, 14 at 0:30

Patriot

not sure if this is a Patriot or Minute man

Twilight looks similar to both minuteman and Patriot

This post was edited by almosthooked on Sat, Jul 5, 14 at 0:32

This is Karen and looks so much the same( to my amateur eyes) except she is darker by far. I never checked to see if they are in the same family but will later

Patriot
DD

Torchlight looks like Minuteman/Patriot? Faye, I had to go check mine because I never would have considered them similar. I've had mine since 2013 when Avalon Acres sent it as a gift plant. I took a picture of it last week because it had a spurt of growth which made me say "Whoooaaaaa!" What is going on here! Well, I like the NEW growth. But the older growth is definitely not dark as the Patriot/Minuteman pair.
Maybe it is because I keep it in more sun? I must treat it different. Anyway, here is the Torchlight

I apologize for not having a current picture of the other two.

Sorry Moc and everyone, I was sprinkling and never bent down low enough and misread the label .. It is TWILIGHT . I will edit the name. opps!

Awwww, Faye, you make me feel bad here. I never thought it wasn't Torchlight, just mine was not that color. Don't tell me you went out with a "torchlight" after Twilight .......hehehehe.
The names are so appropriate for a light in the dark.

I had to look up the name of the one I had, before I posted, because I too get it mixed up, and I don't even have Twilight!
You are so funny. (I say that a lot, and my African grey parrot now says it about ME.)

Torchlight should have red petioles. Not that you can see the petioles in this picture, but that is my torchlight in the red pot.

I don't have either of them so can't comment from experience. But I see different markings/pattern on one than the other.

Didn't NHL have a thread on this very same pair? Let me find it....back in a minute..

Here is a link that might be useful: Difference between Minuteman and Patriot

You're right Jo. There have been many threads about these two. I've usually had only one, so now that I have several (temporarily), I'm interested.

bk