In botany, a bud is an undeveloped or embryonic shoot and normally occurs in the axil of a leaf or at the tip of the stem. Once formed, a bud may remain for some time in a dormant condition, or it may form a shoot immediately. Buds may be specialized to develop flowers or short shoots, or may have the potential for general shoot development. The term bud is also used in zoology, where it refers to an outgrowth from the body which can develop into a new individual.

The buds of many woody plants, especially in temperate or cold climates, are protected by a covering of modified leaves called scales which tightly enclose the more delicate parts of the bud. Many bud scales are covered by a gummy substance which serves as added protection. When the bud develops, the scales may enlarge somewhat but usually just drop off, leaving on the surface of the growing stem a series of horizontally-elongated scars. By means of these scars one can determine the age of any young branch, since each year's growth ends in the formation of a bud, the formation of which produces an additional group of bud scale scars. Continued growth of the branch causes these scars to be obliterated after a few years so that the total age of older branches cannot be determined by this means.

The Darling Buds were an indie band from Newport, South Wales. The band formed in 1986 and were named after the H. E. Bates novel The Darling Buds of May – a title taken in turn, from the third line of Shakespeare's Sonnet 18: "Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May".

Influenced by the catchy simple sound of the early Beatles, the band created melodic, hook-driven, short-duration singles. They were considered part of the short lived "Blonde" movement (indie rock band fronted by blonde female singer with all other members being dark-haired males) along with the likes of The Primitives and Transvision Vamp, but also referenced the C86 scene of a few years earlier.^{[citation needed]}

The Darling Buds formed in Caerleon near Newport, South Wales, in 1986, by the then 19-year-old Andrea Lewis. Their debut single, "If I Said", was released on February 1987 and was well received. The group re-released the single on an established label, Native Records, receiving radio play on John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show. Signing with Sony in 1988, several singles preceded their critically acclaimed 1989 debut LP, Pop Said.... The album ultimately reached the Top 30 in the UK Albums Chart, and the band appeared on the cover of Melody Maker twice (24 September 1988 and 18 February 1989). In 1990, the original drummer, Bloss, left the band and was replaced by Jimmy Hughes from Black. Their second album, Crawdaddy, was not as well received. Pressing forward with their new style, the group followed with their third and final album in 1992, entitled Erotica, a few weeks before Madonna's album of the same name. The album contained the US single, "Long Day In The Universe", which was featured on the soundtrack for the Mike Myers film, So I Married an Axe Murderer. Although they toured the United States in support of the album for a year, the members of the Darling Buds grew increasingly frustrated by their lack of commercial success and disbanded.

A Skylit Drive is an American post-hardcore band from Lodi, California. The band released one DVD, one EP and three studio albums: Wires...and the Concept of Breathing on May 20, 2008, Adelphia on June 9, 2009, and most recently Identity On Fire on February 15, 2011. Michael Jagmin has provided lead vocals for the band since 2008. He is often recognized for his unusual singing range.

A Skylit Drive's original members all met while attending Lodi High School in Lodi. Cory La Quay (drummer) attended Franklin High School in Elk Grove, California along with Zyler Gilley and their Original bass player Curtis Daniger (Tokay High School) Left the band due to enlisting in the U.S. Army (he would later go on to other local bands like Scream no Louder and Adjasent Red), but did however help record some demo pieces. Their debut EP, She Watched the Sky, was released early in 2007 on Tragic Hero. Following this the group toured with Four Letter Lie, Blessthefall, Scary Kids Scaring Kids, Greeley Estates, Oh, Sleeper, The Blackout, Alesana, Before Their Eyes, Dance Gavin Dance, Kenotia, Pierce the Veil, and From First to Last.

James "Jamie" Campbell M. Bower (born 22 November 1988) is an English actor, singer and former model. Bower is best known for his role as Anthony Hope in Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, his role as Caius in The Twilight Saga: New Moon, his role as King Arthur in the Starz original series Camelot and as the young Gellert Grindelwald in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1.

Bower was born in London, England. His mother, Anne Elizabeth (née Roseberry), is a music manager, and his father, David Bower, works for the Gibson Guitar Corporation. His maternal 4th great-grandfather was Sir John Campbell, of Airds, Lieutenant Governor of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. He attended Bedales, and is a former member of the National Youth Music Theatre and the National Youth Theatre. He began his professional career when friend Laura Michelle Kelly, who also appears in Sweeney Todd, recommended him to her agent. In addition to acting, he is also the lead singer in the band The Darling Buds. Bower was a part-time model with Select Model Management in London.

Jorge Cervantes is a pseudonym for George Van Patten, a horticulturist and writer specializing in indoor, outdoor, and greenhouse cannabis cultivation. His books, articles, photographs and instructional DVDs have been sold worldwide as guidebooks to horticultural techniques to high-yield closet, basement, backyard, and guerrilla gardens.

Van Patten developed his lifelong interest with cannabis as a university student in Mexico. After graduation, he moved to California and became a guerrilla grower of "sinsemilla" (Spanish for without seeds) marijuana, the "new" high-quality cannabis that Mexicans reserved for domestic consumption. In the early 1980s, Cervantes started growing indoors, but a lack of credible information about indoor cultivation led him to author Indoor Marijuana Horticulture in 1983. The book became a best-seller, and successful indoor growers dubbed it the "Indoor Grower's Bible" which became the book's subtitle. Today, growers simply call it "The Bible".

Van Patten (as Jorge Cervantes) first published the book Indoor Marijuana Horticulture in 1983. That first edition was 96 pages, bound by staples, and printed in black and white. Now in its fifth edition, with 512 full-color pages and 1120 full-color photographs and illustrations.Marijuana Horticulture sold over 600,000 copies printed in Dutch, English, French and German. Marijuana Horticulture has just been released in Spanish, Italian, and in Russian. The book's credits list more than three hundred contributors including Rob Clarke and Ed Rosenthal.