A Japanese whiskey distillery and brewery has announced the first commercially available blue roses. The company says that the roses are implanted with a blue colour gene from pansies. The roses have been named Suntory blue rose Applause, and will sell for between 2,000 and 3,000 yen a stem in Japan, available from 3 November. They are also fragrant.

Suntory collaborated with Australian biotechnology company Florigene since the early 1990s to find a way to create blue roses. The company has no plans to market them abroad.