Blue roses: do they exist? Plenty of roses have “blue” in their names, including ‘Blue Bajou’, ‘Blue Moon’, and ‘Blue Ribbon’. But to most people’s eyes (including mine), the flowers are a pale, silvery lavender.
Lovely in their own weird way (if Miss Havisham had a wedding bouquet, it would have been faded lavender roses), these so-called blue roses are coolly somber. You cannot imagine them doing anything as exuberant as, say, engulfing an arbor on Nantucket. But how refined and pretty a posy would be in a tarnished silver plate vase:
‘Blue Bajou’
![A fragrant floribunda, a Blue Bajou Rose is \$\19.95 CAD from Palatine Fruit and Roses.](https://media.gardenista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/blue-bajou-rose-palatine-roses-733x573.jpg)
‘Applause’
![Blue rose \2\16;Seiryu\2\17; by Takashi M via Flickr.](https://media.gardenista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/rose-seiryu-gray-flower-takashi-m-flickr-733x550.jpg)
In Japan, it took Suntory nearly 20 years of research and genetic modification with the pigment delphinidin to bring to market in 2009 its ‘Applause’ blue rose. Working Australia-based biotech firm Florigene, Suntory inserted the same gene in a rose that blue pansies use to synthesize pigment. The result: another pale lavender rose.
![A blue floribunda rose. Photograph by T. Kiya via Flickr.](https://media.gardenista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/rosa-seiryu-blue-rose-t-kiya-flickr-733x977.jpg)
‘Blue Moon’
![A Blue Moon Hybrid Tea Rose is \$8.49 from Burgess Seed and Plant Co. Photograph by Olaf Gradin via Flickr.](https://media.gardenista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/blue-moon-rose-olaf-gradin-flickr-733x489.jpg)
‘Blue Ribbon’
![Blue Ribbon rose. Photograph by Takashi M via Flickr. A fragrant Blue Ribbon Rose is \$38 at Heirloom Roses (sold seasonally; currently out of stock).](https://media.gardenista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/rose-blue-ribbon-gray-flower-takashi-m-flickr-733x550.jpg)
- The 7 Best Climbing Roses for Your Garden.
- 10 Easy Pieces: Fragrant Roses.
- Landscape on a Budget: The $250 Instant Rose Garden.
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