You have probably seen green roses. Breathtakingly beautiful blooms, similar but different from their leaves and stem. You’ve also probably thought something like “They are effects of hundreds years of work done by countless horticulturists and rose hobbyists – they’re a kind of magic”. Do you know that you can easily grow green roses all by yourself? Or take white roses and make them green? Yes you can – even if you’re not an experienced horticulturist!
Dyeing Flowers Green
Buy white roses. They aren’t really white, they’re transparent – only our eyes, thanks to the laws of optics, perceive them as white. Go to the nearest supermarket to get some green, chlorophyll-based food color. Plant the roses and care for them for some time, then start adding the green food color to the water. Soon you notice that the roses have absorbed it and blooms are quickly turning green.
And that’s it – after a few days at most you will have beautifully vibrant green roses. No tricks, no genetics, no nothing – just the food color agent.
Preserving Roses You’ve Created
Of course this will not make them permanently green. Roses are living creatures and the chlorophyll will sooner or later be broken into basic components and the roses will return to their natural, white color. Here’s what you can do to prevent it:
When your green roses achieve the right shade (or, to be 100% correct, one shade lighter than what you want to achieve), substitute the green color agent by glycerine. It will be absorbed by the green roses just as the green color was, a preserve the rose while retaining its color. After applying glycerine the rose gets a bit darker though, so choose the moment wisely.
Alternatively, if you don’t feel like ending the plants’ life, you can just keep feeding them with the color from time to time to keep the right shade. Of course, you can also substitute the green color with virtually any colored liquid provided it is not toxic.
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