garbage collection questions

[calmchess]

If i create a contianer that holds several sprites like so.

var sprCon = new Sprite();
addChild(sprCon);
var spr0:Sprite = new Sprite();
var spr1:Sprite = new Sprite();
 var spr2:Sprite = new Sprite();

sprCon.addChild(spr0);
sprCon.addChild(spr1);
sprCon.addChild(spr2); 

then if I remove sprCon all the children go with it but does that mark them for garbage collection or do I need to remove all refrences to those sprites inside the container also?