Blue or not blue?
‘Blue’ flowers are not always blue
Delphinium ‘Blue Nile’ really is blue
There are flowers in most colours from pure white, through the hues of the visible spectrum, to almost pitch black. Most plant families naturally display a range of colours. For example, in the UK wild flowers of the pea family, known in Latin as Fabaceae or Leguminoseae, include red and white clover, yellow gorse, purple vetch, and pink restharrow. Selective breeding has massively increased the gamut of colours, but it seems impossible to achieve some colours for some plants.
Bluebells are actually a bit purple
The reason is that plants can lack the genes to produce particular coloured pigments and so hybridisation by cross-breeding different varieties will fail to create a flower coloured by the missing pigment. A classic example is the Rosaceae family, which as well as edible fruits such as apples and pears, includes roses. Blue is particularly sought after colour and the absence of genes necessary to synthesise blue pigments in roses has not deterred the efforts or imaginations of plant breeders. Many roses include the name ‘Blue’ in their names but are not really blue, even those created by genetic modification adding genes from other species with blue flowers. An example is Suntory Blue Rose, known as ‘Applause’ which is more of a lavender colour. The holy grail of breeding blue versions of flowers extends to tulips, and the naming of tulip varieties is equally optimistic: ‘blue’ tulips tend to be shades of purple.
Rose ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ is not blue at all
Blue versions of plants that are not normally blue are not just novelties but can be very profitable. Suntory’s blue rose sold for 10 times the price of normal roses when it was released in Japan. Hence similar experiments in genetic modification that have also create a ‘blue’ chrysanthemum.
True blue plants exist in nature but are less common than other coloured plants with fewer than 10 percent of the world's 280,000 flowering plants having blue blossom, but that still leaves plenty of choice. I am happy to be delighted by the naturally true blue flowers that wear their colour comfortably. I enjoy the slate purples of naturally hybridised roses such as ’Rhapsody in Blue’ and ‘Blue for you’ for their colour and not their name, and love tulips such as ‘Blue Parrot’ for their delightful shades of purple but would avoid the genetically modified blooms that look unnatural, as if spray painted.
‘Perennial blue rose’ not really trying – compare with the sky colour!
Sources:
Suntory rose: https://www.suntory.com/sic/research/s_bluerose/story/
Why aren’t there more blue flowers: https://www.treehugger.com/the-science-of-blue-flowers-4864085
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