Yes, I know the April theme day is about water, not roses :)
But this picture describes very well the weather in Toulouse right now :
Roses start blooming but rains nonstop pouring. There was sunshine in between
and the rainbow shows up as the queen.
A flower vendor waters his basket of roses at a street corner in downtown Hanoi, Vietnam, on December 15. Street flowers vendors are a common part of the Vietnamese capital's landscape.
A Bulgarian villager gathers roses in the early morning. Bulgaria is a major producer of rose oil, a key ingredient in perfume.
Explanation: This gorgeous celestial vista is centered on one of the Milky Way's own planetary nebulae, M57, the famous Ring Nebula. The wide view is a composite of three exposures; one to record the details of the inner roughly one light-year span of the familiar nebula, one to record the surprisingly intricate but faint outer rings of glowing hydrogen gas, and one to pick up the rich assortment of distant background galaxies. By chance, one of the background galaxies, IC 1296 at the upper left, is close enough to show its barred, spiral structure making an attractive visual comparison with M57. Interestingly, though IC 1296 is 200 million light-years away compared to only 2 thousand light-years for M57, a faint ring is also apparent around the outer reaches of the distant spiral galaxy.
Explanation:Would the
Rosette Nebula by any other
name look as
sweet?
The bland New General Catalog
designation of NGC 2237 doesn't appear to diminish the appearance of the
this flowery emission nebula.
Inside the nebula lies an open cluster of bright young stars designated NGC 2244.
These stars
formed about four million years ago from the nebular material and their
stellar winds are clearing a hole in the nebula's center, insulated by a layer of dust and hot gas.
Ultraviolet light from the hot cluster stars causes the surrounding nebula to glow.
The Rosette Nebula spans about 100
light-years across, lies
about 5000 light-years away,
and can be seen with a small telescope towards the
constellation of
Monoceros.
A red rose is sheathed in ice at a nursery in Apopka, Florida as freezing temperatures swept across the state. (Associated Press photo)
The world's first blue rose developed by Japanese brewer Suntory is displayed during a press conference in Tokyo.
Calgene Pacific (CP) was established in Melbourne, Australia, in 1986. Shareholders include DNA Plant Technology (USA), Fides (The Netherlands), and Suntory (Japan). Last year CP acquired its Dutch competitor Florigene.
Identification, isolation and transferring of genes responsible for colors are the main focus of research at CP. In 1991, it isolated the key genes responsible for the colors blue and red. CP's main research project is the development of blue flowers, particularly a blue rose. Of the ten most popular flowers only the Freesia has blue varieties. CP expects that blue flowers would command a market share close to that of red if they were freely available. Blue transgenic petunia were reported in 1992. Blue carnations and chrysanthemum are being tested this year, while the blue rose is expected in 1995.
Kirin Brewery is involved in micropropagation and flower export through its Dutch subsidiary Hiljo in Amsterdam. Kirin also owns Fides, the largest Dutch chrysanthemum breeding company. Kirin itself has developed new breeds of ornamental chrysanthemum, using tissue culture and cell engineering techniques.
Sapporo is involved in the cultivation of orchid plants, using cloning techniques, including tissue culture.
Suntory has developed a virus resistant transgenic petunia. Suntory is shareholder of Calgene Pacific. Suntory and Calgene Pacific have set up a joint venture named International Flower Development (IFD). The aim of this joint venture is to apply genetic engineering technology to produce blue flowers, particularly blue roses. Suntory holds the marketing rights for Japan, CP for Australia, North America and Europe. IFD has applied for world patent on several techniques to control flower color in plants.