Suntory engineers a rose that blooms true blue

Finally, A True Blue Rose Exists

Roses lack the enzyme to make blue pigment, so for years a truly blue rose seemed impossible. Suntory researchers in Kyoto inserted four genes from other blue flowers into a light pink rose: one from Canterbury bells for blue pigments, and three from wishbone flowers and clustered gentian that produce colorless co-pigments. The helper molecules deepen the hue to violet blue, and the bushes kept blooming blue for seven years in greenhouses and three in Colombian fields.