Roses are...blue? It's (sometimes) true!

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. They're really pretty. 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 June 12—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. Biotechnology is explored in 5-7-5 Errand Boy, one of the Superman Duffy graphic novels. If you've read it, you'll see that biotechnology affects our daily lives more than we think. If you don't have a copy, you can order it from the Alberta Canola Producers' Commission.

Gotta jet! Have a great weekend.

~ Chase Superman Duffy