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Transcription: [00:54:45]
{Unknown speaker}
They grow about 100 000 rose bushes a year. Most of them are dug up and thrown away and only a few rose bushes are kept to further their research.

[00:54:55]
{Unknown speaker}
Two members of the Meilland family are inspecting a new rose which they have just created which is called Suspense.

[00:55:04]
{Unknown speaker}
The way they make their money at Meilland is from the flower wholesalers that pay for their patented rose shoots.


[00:55:15]
{Unknown speaker}
And they are working on a very interesting product right at the present. They are trying to develop the blue rose. They have not succeeded yet but they say it is only a matter of time.

[00:55:26]
{Unknown speaker}
And as you see, the rose does have a purplish or lavender colour and they intend to pollinate this rose with other roses. And with each succeeding generation the rose will become a deeper blue.

[00:55:46]
{Unknown speaker}
And they say it is only a matter of time before we will eventually develop the blue rose.

[00:55:54]
{Unknown speaker}
And at that time, they will then cross it with roses of other colours and then you will be able to buy at your florist, roses of every colour in the rainbow.

[00:56:05]
{Unknown speaker}
They are very carefully pollinated and to keep stray pollen from reaching the pestals, they are covered with a waxed paper bag.

[00:56:16]
{Unknown speaker}
During the succeeding several weeks, the fruit or bulb grows. Inside, these seeds mature, they are then opened and replanted to bring us another generation closer to the blue rose.

[00:56:35]
{Unknown speaker}
One member of the Meilland family was nice enough to open one of these bulbs prematurely so you could better see what is actually taking place.