Both nature and gardening are full of surprises. Have you ever seen a flowering shrub that has two completely different flower colors on the same plant? Or have you noticed that a portion of your plants’ variegated leaves are now solid green or a different shape all together? Strange changes in plants can be rationally explained if we dig a little deeper. Some of these surprises stem from the way plants were bred and produced. Plant breeding has been practiced since the dawn of human civilization, starting with agriculture more than 10,000 years ago. Agriculture is the science and practice of farming, including the cultivation of crops and animals for food. Agriculture is thought to have been established with the domestication of cereal grains such as wheat when humans recognized superior plant qualities and began saving seeds.