QuestionLong Island, you talk about Blue Roses a lot. I don't see any Blue Roses anywhere. What are you talking about? Is this a metaphor for something?
AnswerRoses are Blue, Violets are Red...
You didn't hear about the Blue Genes painted by scientists into a new race of test-tube Roses?
Not a joke!
This is the Real McCoy.
Actually, these new Roses don't look much different from the "blue" Roses already on the market. This was big news last year when a Melbourne, Australia, biotech firm called Florigene (www.florigene.com/news/news.php) announced the latest progeny of its test-tube Rose experiments.
Florigene invented the first blue Carnation in 1994. I bought 30 of their blue Carnations today for $30 on the internet (1800Flowers is one of about 30 retailers who sell Florigene's products in the U.S.). I am having them delivered to my Dad for Father's Day -- and I've never sent my father flowers before.
So I must thank you for the suggestion. It never would have crossed my mind if you had not asked. Perfect timing.
Until Florigene's freak blue Rose, world breeders were resigned to a color more accurately called "Sort of Blue". Rose genes just don't come in ANY kind of REAL blue. Purple's more like it.
Even now, Florigene is honestly taking poetic license when it calls its Rose and Carnation lines Blue. They are "More Blue". But they are not the color of Sky Blue. They are not the color of Delphinium Blue. They are... Purple. Violet. Mauve. Not Blue. They can get away with it because they managed to pull off some complicated gene splicing and plant a Blue gene into a Rose that was not born with it. THAT is a MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH.
Outatheblue. Lagerfeld. Sterling Silver. Rhapsody in Blue. Blue Girl. Barbra Streisand. Ebb Tide. Rhapsody in Blue. Midnight Blue. Purple Heart. Stainless Steel. They are Blue Roses described as "mauve" "silver" "violet".
Without the work at Florigene, nothing could come closer.
Like a drug company working on pharmaceuticals, Florigene's bluegene-fiddling is only the beginning. And unlike the famous Dolly -- the world's first cloned sheep -- religious organizations aren't clamoring for injunctions on Florigene's color research, fearful that science marches on, new flower colors will raise ethical questions.
Not yet at least.
But for now, we must settle for the fussy, finicky Mauves. Which I recommend for their sparse bloom, wonderful fragrance, and novel, nearly blue petals. Since you don't see any Blue Roses anywhere, why not be the first on your block to acquire a few? Let me know if you need a source for these.
