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Half the world I wandered through, Home I came at wintertide, It may be beyond the grave Rudyard Kipling |
Poets write poems about them, Japanese animators feature them in anime animations, lovers romanticize them. The world has been entranced with the concept of the blue rose for a few generations.
Humans have cultivated roses for more than 5,000 years. But up until recently blue roses were something unattainable. Blue roses do not exist in nature, and that probably made them almost mystical. They have come to symbolize mystery and longing to attain the impossible.
Roses appear naturally in many shades of red, pink, yellow and white, but never blue because of the lack of a specific gene that can produce blue pigments. However, fascination with blue roses led people to attempt to create them by dyeing white roses. It is believed that as early as Victorian times people already made blue roses by putting white ones in blue water. This practice has been used to this day (read here about dyeing white roses into other bright colors).
Similarly to rainbow roses, dyed blue roses are still a rarity and few florists in the USA or Russia carry them. In Russia they seem to gain popularity in some cities as people look for new ways to surprise and impress their dear ones. You can order blue roses to Russia using an international flower delivery service. You will not find blue roses in our catalog, so you can contact us via email and inquire about availability and price of blue roses in a desired city. It is better to do it well in advance so that we can arrange a special order in case our local florist does not have them in stock at the moment.
Another way to get blue roses came with the development of hybridization methods. Horticulturalists bred so-called “blue roses”; however, if you expect truly blue color, you might get disappointed, as those hybrid roses such as “Blue Moon” are actually more lilac than blue in color.
Another step in creating blue roses was taken with genetic engineering. As a result of long collaborative research by an Australian company Florigene and a Japanese company Suntory, a new blue rose was created in 2004 by inserting a delphinidin-producing gene from a pansy into an Old Garden “Cardinal de Richelieu” rose. This new genetically modified rose was named Applause. Although the company describes it as a blue rose, this rose is in fact lavender or pale mauve in color. But it is the closest color to blue that has been achieved so far.
The rose was first released in Tokyo in 2009, and in 2010 alone Suntory was reported to have sold 10,000 Applause blue roses in Japan. In North America Applause roses appeared on the market in the fall of 2011. They are now available at selected flower shops throughout North America, so you can consider these unusual roses next time you want to impress your beloved ones with flowers.
When thinking of ordering blue roses, think whether you want truly blue roses (in that case they will be dyed) or you want those rare lavender or lilac ones which are grown in that color but not quite as blue as one might expect.
The hybrid “blue roses” that are actually lilac or lavender in color have been popular in Russia for quite some time. Truly blue roses (dyed ones) have been gaining popularity with the popularity of unusual floral gifts in Russia. When something original and exquisite is desired, a bouquet of blue roses is a perfect choice. You can always order blue roses and lavender roses to Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova through our company. Just email us and inquire about availability and price in the particular city. And then enjoy the smile on the face of your beloved ones in Russia or another country when they get such a used-to-be-unattainable gift.
