Why is there no such thing as a truly blue rose?

Ask a group of rose lovers what they feel about a blue rose and most of them say ‘it will never happen’. Press them to say whether they’d welcome one and most reply in the negative. Then, they babble about blue being unnatural and retaliate with some sort of circular argument such as ‘who would want one anyway?’.

Well, I would, for starters. I would love to have such roses in my garden. Blue is the only colour that roses lack. The Victorians longed for a bright-yellow rose (the first, Soleil d’Or, came out in 1900), so why do we say ‘yuck’ when blue roses are mentioned?

The possibilities are enormous. Imagine gentian-blue Floribundas in flower throughout the summer and autumn. They would revolutionise our gardens, as did Soleil d’Or, which is the ancestor of every yellow or orange rose in our garden today. Bring on the blues, say I.

True-blue pigments don’t exist naturally in the genus Rosa. There are lots of good purples among the old roses (Gallicas especially) and hundreds of excellent mauves and lilacs were introduced in the 1950s and 1960s (think of Sterling Silver, Lavender Dream and Lilac Charm) as the unexpected result of breeding for vigour. Rhapsody in Blue, a vigorous shrub with smoky-purple flowers, is one of the most popular of modern roses, but it’s not the sort of blue we’re looking for.

The truth is that the only way to get clear blues into our roses is by doing a bit of genetic modification in the lab, which is the sort of innovation that many people disapprove of, quite forgetting that the story of all plant-breeding is a history of genetic improvement.

The potential rewards for introducing the first true-blue rose are enormous, probably exceeding £100 million and it requires the sort of research and development that many ambitious biologists enjoy. In fact, plant-breeding scientists in Australia and Japan have already introduced the genes for pure blue into the chromosomes of Hybrid Teas and Floribundas. The trouble is that the blue genes don’t yet express themselves as cornflower blue in roses, just dark mauve or purple again. More research is needed and more investment.

What exactly is the problem? There are several technical snags that seem, as yet, insoluble.

The source of blueness is an anthocyanidin called delphinidin. It’s common enough in the plant world, but it is also an indicator of pH and operates like litmus paper. Delphinidin occurs in cranberries, which, if they weren’t so acid, would not be red, but blue.

The trouble is that the cells of rose petals are naturally acid, so the delphinidin turns a muddy mauve. To be sure of a gentian-blue rose, the scientists need to choose another source of blue colouring or create a rose whose whole metabolism is alkaline — which is asking a lot of them.

There’s another problem, which is that scientists will also have to block the other determinants of colour within the roses. Pink is the predominant colour among roses, but it combines with blue to give mauve. Experiments have been made with genes present in iris species to prevent the roses from expressing their pre-existing colours, but with only limited success. One idea was to insert delphinidin into a white rose that had no trace of pink in its make-up, but that didn’t work either. Don’t ask me why.

Work on producing true-blue roses has been a major concern for some 30 years now. The leading firm is a Japanese-Australian enterprise that forms part of the Suntory empire. After about 20 fruitless years, it finally introduced a ‘blue’ rose called Applause in 2010 and managed to sell it at about $30 (£24) per stem.

Yes — that was the price per stem.

I’ve never seen it and I can’t imagine just who would spend so much on just one rose, not least because the photographs that Suntory sent out to journalists seemed to me as mauve as all those beauties from the 1950s and 1960s. Don’t rush to buy it: it’s not for sale in the UK.

I hope the research will continue. Suntory is nothing if not innovative. The fame of success is an alluring prospect and so are the potential rewards. When, eventually, scientists manage to breed brilliant-blue roses, as blue as delphiniums and gentians, I shall be among the first to buy a plant. Or perhaps two — but that depends upon the price.

Keep the lily beyond Easter

OK, now that Easter is over with, a question remains.

What do I do with the Easter lily Aunt Blanch gave me? Or, what do we do with those lilies that were given to the church?

Prior to World War 1, Easter lilies — also known as Bermuda lilies — were produced and exported from Bermuda and from Japan. The plant is a native of Japan and, until Pearl Harbor, the Japanese were the world’s biggest producers of this flower.

At the end of WWI a soldier from the coastal region of southern Oregon came home with a suitcase filed with the lily bulbs. He started growing them and since his friends, neighbors and family seemed to like them, he started giving the plants as gifts.

Soon, there were a lot of people growing these flowers. Some were selling them in limited quantities. After the start of World War II, the Japanese lilies were no longer available so the growers in Oregon and now, Northern California, had an expanding market for their plants. At one time there were 1,200 growers producing Easter lilies on the Pacific coast. The number of growers has declined to about a dozen now but they produce 95 percent of the potted Easter lilies sold worldwide. Upwards of 14 million of these plants are grown in a small area on the California-Oregon state line and the odds are pretty good that our lilies came from there.

So, how do we continue to enjoy these potted plants and can we keep them through the year? First thing, remove those yellow anthers in the middle of the flower; these are the male flower part that produces pollen. Removing the anthers will help the flower to last longer and you will not get that yellow powder sticking to the flowers — or to whatever brushes up against them.

Second, keep the plant in a brightly lit location. It will last longer if it is not in direct sunlight. Keep the soil moist. To see if water is needed simply stick your finger in the soil to about the second knuckle, and as long as the soil is moist the plant is doing okay. Remove each flower as it begins to fade to keep the plant attractive. If you want to keep it as a potted plant you may need to move it to a larger container.

As soon as the weather is warm enough and there is no longer any chance of a frost — usually about the second week of May for this area — the lily can be planted in the soil outdoors. Also, wait until the blooms have faded and been removed. Keep the foliage intact. The plant will need its leaves to produce its food through photosynthesis. This food will help the plant to establish itself in the garden and will allow the lily to store some energy for the next year’s growth.

Remember this plant is normally a summer flowering perennial. It was forced to bloom in a greenhouse to make it an appropriate plant to sell for Easter. It will revert back to the schedule it is supposed to keep in the next year. It may bloom again, but probably not this year.

When planting the Easter lily, keep the stem and leaves intact and plant it deep enough so that the top of the bulb is about 6 inches below the soil surface. Water well to settle the soil around the bulb, and keep the soil moist for the rest of the growing season. Do not over water as this will cause the bulb to rot. When the leaves turn brown in the fall, cut it back to about 3 inches. The bulb should be covered with a thick layer of much for insulation in the winter. The mulch should be taken down to about 2 inches when it is time for the plant to grow in the spring. A balanced plant food can be applied to the soil to help with the flowering, apply this when the first green shoots appear.

It’s pretty simple really. Enjoy your garden.

Growing roses not the thorn once thought

Roses are among the oldest flowers in cultivation, although many have earned a reputation as fussy or difficult to grow. Some of the newer shrub rose hybrids, however, are disease-resistant, carefree and repeat-blooming — just the qualities novice gardeners love.

“They are generally much healthier, more free-flowering, easier to prune and more winter-hardy” than some earlier generations of roses, said Michael Marriott, technical manager and senior rosarian for David Austin Limited of Albrighton, England, about the many emerging shrub rose varieties.

Shrub roses, also labeled landscaping or groundcover roses, blend a diverse mix of old-rose varieties with modern roses to capture the best qualities of each, including fragrance, flowering styles, colors and growth habits.

They’re bred for garden performance rather than plant perfection, converting many rose contrarians into vocal rosarians, Marriott said.

“There are certainly plenty of hesitant gardeners who mistakenly think all roses will be finicky and hard to grow — but I’d say they’re decreasing in number,” Marriott said.

Early landscape designers frequently recommended that roses be concentrated only in rose gardens, in the process creating a monoculture conducive to pests and diseases. Now they’re integrating roses into mixed borders where companion plants surround roses to the benefit of all, Marriott said.

Despite longstanding perceptions, rose growing isn’t a specialty particular to older or more affluent gardeners, said Chris VanCleave, a banker and rose advocate from Helena, Ala., who has a wide following on the garden lecture circuit and his “Redneck Rosarian” website.

Regardless of where you are or who you are, there’s a rose just for you, he said.

“Baby boomers, Gen Xers and millennial generations don’t care so much about a perfect bloom. Instead they want garden color and low maintenance, and they’re also averse to using harmful chemicals in the garden,” VanCleave said.

“Some want flowering power, while others grow them for sentimental reasons,” VanCleave said. “My rose garden began with one rose to honor my mother after she passed away. I now have around 185.”

Along with beauty, roses offer a great deal of utility around the landscape, including erosion control, salt endurance and appeal to pollinators — especially varieties whose blooms open fully to expose their stamens.

“Most roses are more drought-hardy than people think and can tolerate drier conditions, although during these times your flowering and plant size are diminished,” said Anthony Tesselaar, president and co-founder of Anthony Tesselaar Plants in Silvan, Australia, which markets Flower Carpet roses.

Surveys continue to identify roses as everyone’s favorite flower — even people who don’t have gardens, Marriott said.