The world’s first blue rose hits stateside

Last week our office manager, Amanda, rushed over to my desk with an important delivery — not a batch of cupcakes or a designer bag, but a single rose. The thing about this rose is that it wasn’t from your typical bodega batch of boring red, bubble-gum pink (though I love those) or cheery yellow. This prickly guy was blue. Apparently, the mythical blue rose has long thought to be impossible since roses lack the pigment delphinidin, needed for blue coloring. But Suntory Flowers — yup, a division of the whiskey company Bill Murray filmed ads for in “Lost In Translation” —  has been hard at work researching ways to create blue roses since the late ’90s. And after some fancy cross-breeding between pansies they developed Applause, which is the only flower to contain “nearly 100 percent blue pigment in the petals.” We know, we know, you need this unicorn of flowers for your wedding proposal or anniversary. The good news is Suntory will start selling the variety in North America in November. Not to take away from nearly two decades of research, but the first thing I thought was: Nice purple flower. See for yourself below.