World’s First ‘Blue’ Rose Soon Available in U.S.
Long a symbol of the unattainable, blue roses will be for sale this fall in the United States and Canada.
Named “Applause,” the rose is genetically modified to synthesize delphinidin, a pigment found in most blue flowers. The rose was first released in in Tokyo in 2009, after 20 years of research by Suntory, a Japanese company that also distills whisky, and its Australian subsidiary, Florigene (now Suntory Flowers). Today Suntory announced the rose will be for sale at select florists in North America, beginning early November. While the flower might appear more silver-purple than sky-blue, Applause is the nearest to a true blue rose yet.
Arguably the world’s best loved flowers, humans have cultivated roses for more than 5,000 years. Roses can signify love, beauty, politics and war.
Blue roses have a mythic quality because they, until recently, were impossible to grow. Roses appear naturally in many shades of red, pink, yellow and white, but lack the natural ability to produce blue pigments. For centuries, blue roses have conjured unrequited love or the quest for the impossible.
Blue roses traditionally available through florists have been white roses dyed blue. Suntory and Florigene achieved the blue color inserting a delphinidin-producing gene from a pansy into an Old Garden ‘Cardinal de Richelieu’ rose. When debuting in Japan, Applause was sold for 10 times the price of normal roses.
How to grow your own bridge
Deep in the rainforests of the Indian state of Meghalaya, bridges are not built, they’re grown.
Ancient vines and roots of trees stretch horizontally across rivers and streams, creating a solid latticework structure strong enough to be used as a bridge.
Some of the bridges are over a hundred feet long and can support the weight of fifty or more people.
The Cherrapunji region is one of the wettest places in the world with many fast-flowing rivers and streams, making these bridges invaluable to those who live in the region.
Since the area receives around 15 metres of rain every year, a normal wooden bridge would quickly rot. But because the growing bridges are alive and still growing, they actually gain strength over time.
For more than 500 years locals have guided roots and vines from the native Ficus Elastica (rubber tree) across rivers, using hollowed out trees to create root guidance systems. When they roots and vines reach the opposite bank they are allowed to take root.
In time, a sturdy living bridge is produced. Some can take ten to fifteen years to become fully functional.
