Is your love like a blue blue rose?

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photo credit: Reiner Schubert

The worlds first blue roses have been on display at the International Flower Expo in Tokyo and will be on sale to the public by next Autumn.

They have been genetically modified and implanted with a gene which skillfully synthesises the pigments from pansies.

It was the first time that these blue roses had been on display in public and they are attracting a lot of attention because they are really unusual.

The lovely roses were developed by an Australian based company, a subsidiary of Suntory. The company has invested the sum of 3 billion yen to create these blue roses and also blue carnations, this project has been ongoing since 1990.

Scientists for the company were the 1st to implant the gene that produces Delphinidin, the pigment that produces a vivid blue hue and is not naturally found in roses.

It was four years ago that the first genetically modified blue roses were produced although there was further research required in order to make them safe to grow.

Roses have been cultivated for over 5,000 years and there are about 25,000 different species of roses. The usual colour of roses are red, pink, white and yellow.

The blue rose is said to denote unrequited love as it symbolises a quest for the impossible. This seems very apt!

The blue roses that you have been able to buy in florists in recent years were only created by using dyes to stain the petals of white roses. The Suntory roses are believed to be the first true blue roses.

The blue roses were featured along with 860 exhibits all of which were being displayed at the 5th annual IFEX. This is the largest garden show and flower show and attracted over 32,000 visitors over the course of one weekend.

Another attraction was “glow in the dark” roses which have been modified to light up in the dark!