Roses are...blue?

My grandma has a garden full of roses (and I mean, FULL)—red, yellow, pink, even orange (actually, I think the technical term is apricot). Except, none of them are her favourite colour.

Grandma loves ROYAL BLUE ROSES. But…you won’t see many of those growing in a typical garden.

That’s because blue roses are grown using biotechnology—which is a scientific process that’s pretty hard to explain but essentially means the plant’s DNA is naturally altered to create a specific trait, in this case, its royal blue colour. Sound complicated?

It is!

Which is why even though scientists have been growing royal blue roses for the last six years or so, my grandpa has to order them in for special occasions—like Grandma’s birthday, Mother’s Day, and today…which is ironically, Red Rose Day. (Who makes these days up?!)

Biotechnology is pretty fascinating science, and of course, it’s evolving all of the time. In 5-7-5 Errand Boy, one of the Chase “Superman” Duffy books, the author talks a LOT about biotechnology and how it impacts way more of your life than you can imagine. Check it out!

Gotta jet! I have to run and pick my mom up some roses for my dad to give my mom—thank goodness her favourites are RED! Have a great weekend. <grin>

— Chase Superman Duffy