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To produce a naturally blue rose has been a dream of horticulturalists for almost as long as people have been breeding flowers. It turns out to be essentially impossible to do by traditional plant husbandry, and attempts have proved futile for so long that the blue rose itself has become a symbol of the impossible or the seemingly impossible, and only the rarest achievements call for their presentation as gifts. And until recently, even those rare occasions had to be served by artificially blue roses made by growing white roses in tinted water. Now, however, the Japanese company Suntory, in partnership with Australia's Florigene, have created a transgenic rose which incorporates a petunia gene to achieve a pale lilac color which is really only barely blue. It took them 13 years of work to do it, however, so I guess they've decided pale lilac is close enough.
Um....It's purple.
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My Mom used to grow a lilac rose in her garden back in the seventies. She got it at a local nursery. I used to drive her crazy cutting off the blossoms to give to girls as gifts. It was unusual and the only time I've ever seen one but it was available to anyone who wanted to buy it. Anyone familiar with the variety she might have been growing?
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around the plant nut world, I've seen what I would call purple, red, etc. and they call them "blue". I'm not sure I understand (though I am one of them, but I do know blue)
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I've seen the Blue Girl variety of roses around for a very long time. They are a silvery lilac color and quite beautiful. These new roses are only slightly more bluish and probably much more expensive.
If displayed with yellow flowers or in a yellow vase these roses would probably look much more blue if you really wanted to push the effect.
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http://michiganbulb.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_13407
http://gurneys.com/product.asp?pn=13406&bhcd2=1253055511
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Well there goes humanity
Food for Skynet and such...
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I think what distinguishes this from other Blue Roses is the *potential* for a deep blue colour. Other blue Roses, as far as I know, appear blue due to a combination of other pigmentations, but it is not a true blue pigment; therefore, pale blue is the best that can be achieved. With this new petunia colouration, a full, deep blue could be achieved in principal.
Why they haven't done so before release is anyone's guess; they were able to do so for Carnations (check the Florigene website for pictures).
I think these are a great idea; a harmless showcase of Genetic Technology to dispel these nonsense myths that GM is evil in and of itself. Conventionally bred potatoes can poison people, and the toxic stuff used to grow most of our crops is more dangerous than anything you'll find in a commercial GM plant.
Monsanto though, now they *are* evil. That I'll grant you.
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but are they round-up ready?
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