: Blue Roses

Almost as enduring a dream as the Black Rose is the myth of the Blue Rose. People are fascinated by the idea of such an unusually-colored rose and rumors abound about their availability. There are lots of roses which use the word "blue" in their names, but none of them are very close to a true blue. They are usually some shade of mauve or violet with a blue undertone to them. Among the Heritage roses, one of the bluest is William Lobb, which is quite purple but in the shade develops a very blue-ish cast to the reverse of the petals. Modern hybridizers have given us a nice little mauve mini called Mr. Bluebird as well as Blue Nile, Blue Moon, Blue Skies, Blue Star, etc. etc. All of these roses are listed in Modern Roses 10 as being "mauve" in color. Following are a few examples of questions I have fielded regarding this subject.

	What is the origin of the blue rose? Please send any information you have.
	There is no blue rose. There are roses that are *called* blue but they are all shades of mauve or lavendar. They have various origins -- depends on what the hybridizers used to create them. But none of them are a true blue. Alice
	Veilchenblau claims to be light purple/blue. If so..please tell me, is this a blue rose? Is it possible to get me a blue rose to buy? Blue's his favorite color. Also, could you do the same for a grey/silver or silverish rose?
	Veilchenblau is a light mauve color with a blue-ish cast to it. Depending on the weather where it is being grown, it can be quite purple to almost magenta or a grey-ish mauve color. It isn't a true blue. In fact, there simply is no true blue rose. It is a favorite fantasy of people to find a blue rose but, in fact, every rose that is called Blue is really some shade of mauve or purple.