A bouquet of red or white roses would make a sweet gift for a loved one. But what if they were blue instead? Those kinds of flowers are exactly what Japanese company Suntory Ltd. will try to sell to buyers next year.

Looking very much like a gift that Laura Wingfield would appreciate, these genetically modified flowers were given their blue appearance when Suntory implanted a particular gene in them. This same gene, which doesn't naturally occur in roses, is what leads to the synthesis of the blue pigment Delphinidin in pansies.

It reportedly took Suntory and Australian researchers some fourteen years of study before they were able to unveil the first blue rose to the general public.

Suntory spokesman Kazumasa Nishizaki admitted that the roses make for luxurious gifts. "As its price may be a bit high, we are targeting demand for luxurious cut flowers, such as for gifts."

The company has been growing the blue roses experimentally in both Australia and the United States in order to get approval for sales of the flowers, but so far, no date has been set for commercial launches in the two countries.