Blue Roses Made by Japan's Florigene - A Sunroy Co.

Roses are blue. Violets are red?

Congratulations to Japanese brewer Suntory who has developed the world's first "blue rose."

After 14 years of research and $27.8 million, Suntory successfully created the blue rose by implanting the gene that leads to the synthesis of blue pigment in pansies. The color of the new rose comes entirely from the pigment Delphinidin, which does not exist in natural roses, Suntory said.

"The creation of the blue rose was once believed to be impossible. But we have continued our work to produce it," Suntory president Nobutada Saji said at a news conference in Tokyo.

In 1990 Suntory teamed up with Calgene Pacific, an Australian biotech venture, for the project and bought the firm in 2003, renaming it Florigene Ltd. Initially, researchers at Florigene tried to develop blue roses by extracting blue-pigment genes from other plants, such as petunias. But the pansy provided the strong genes to turn roses blue.

Sunroy's blue roses contain nearly 100 percent of the blue pigment.

There are "bluish" roses on the market created through cross-breeding but the Sunroy rose is the first reported genuine blue rose.

The World's First Blue Rose Photo Credit: Toru Yamanaka

"As a company in the food industry, we have developed businesses to enrich people’s lives. We have continued research and development activities for our flower operations because flowers adds flavors to people’s lives and help sustain spiritual health," Saji said.

The flowers are expected to be available for purchase in 2007 or 2008.

Duke Ellington and Rosemary Clooney would be proud.

Inspire & Be Inspired.

~Jennifer King