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Down the Garden Path: Why some flowers change color · Kendall County News - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Down the garden path. Why some flowers change color? Written
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  Speaker 1: by Sue Styr, University of Illinois Extension. This article is
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  Speaker 1: being read by an automated voice brought to you by Everlet.
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  Speaker 1: Have you ever noticed flowers in your garden that start
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  Speaker 1: out as one color and change to another as they age.
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  Speaker 1: In some flowers, the colour change is genetically programmed, while
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  Speaker 1: in others an environmental factor such as heat, light, or
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  Speaker 1: soil condition may prompt the shift about flower color. Flower
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  Speaker 1: color developed to attract pollinators, such as bees and butterflies,
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  Speaker 1: so that plants could reproduce more efficiently. The color itself
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  Speaker 1: comes mainly from two types of plant pigments, carotenoids and flavonoids.
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  Speaker 1: Carotenoids create yellow, orange, and red colors. They show up
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  Speaker 1: in many yellow flowered plants in the daisy, Asteraci and
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  Speaker 1: bean Fabasi families. Carotine, a specific carotenoid, is often found
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  Speaker 1: in vegetables such as tomatoes and carrots. Flavonoids have the
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  Speaker 1: most varied range of colors. One family of flavonoids, the anthocyanins,
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  Speaker 1: create shades of purple, blue, and red found in flowers.
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  Speaker 1: Anthocyanins also occur in other parts of plants such as leaves, roots,
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  Speaker 1: and in fruits like blueberries and raspberries causes of flower
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  Speaker 1: color change. There are several ways that colour change can
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  Speaker 1: be controlled by genetics. One way is that the pigment
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  Speaker 1: controlled genes are activated to produce more pigment. This happens
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  Speaker 1: in violets such as Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow Brensophilia posseflora,
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  Speaker 1: which change from white to purple over five to eight
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  Speaker 1: days as they bloom. The color change is triggered by pollination,
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  Speaker 1: which tells the flower genes to increase the production of anthocyanins.
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  Speaker 1: The color change attracts different types of pollinators to the
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  Speaker 1: flower as it ages. Chemistry can also cause flowers to
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  Speaker 1: shift their colors. The anthocyanin pigments in some flowers act
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  Speaker 1: like litmus paper and change color, becoming red with flowers
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  Speaker 1: are more socidic and blue when they are more basic.
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  Speaker 1: Morning glories such as Heavenly Blue Pomoia tricolor, start off
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  Speaker 1: blue basic in the morning and turn pink or purple
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  Speaker 1: acidic throughout the day. In Virginia bluebells Mertensia virginica, the
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  Speaker 1: buds start off pink acidic, then turn pinkish, purple, neutral,
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  Speaker 1: and finally open as blue flowers. Basic chameleon tulips such
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  Speaker 1: as antoinette, change color from yellow to pink to orange
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  Speaker 1: as the flowers age. Because the pigments naturally degrade over time.
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  Speaker 1: The ambient temperature can affect the production of pigments in
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  Speaker 1: many tulips, causing flowers change color. The highest production of
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  Speaker 1: anthocyanins occurs when daytime temperatures are fifty to sixty five
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  Speaker 1: degrees fahrenheit and night time temperatures are zero to forty
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  Speaker 1: five degrees fahrenheit. When temperatures are above seventy degrees fahrenheit,
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  Speaker 1: anthocyanin production slows and flower color fades, such as from
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  Speaker 1: red to pink. In big leaf and mountain hydranges Hydrogea, Macrophylla,
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  Speaker 1: and H. Serrata, flower color can be blue to pink purple.
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  Speaker 1: For the flowers to be blue, two conditions need to
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  Speaker 1: be met. There is aluminum in the soil, and the
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  Speaker 1: soil is acidic. Aluminum can only move into the hydrangea
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  Speaker 1: if it's in an acidic environment. Once in the plant,
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  Speaker 1: the aluminum enters the flower and interacts with the pink
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  Speaker 1: purple anthocyanin pigment, changing the shape of the pigment to
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  Speaker 1: produce a blue color without both aluminum and acidity. The
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  Speaker 1: blooms are pink purple. Let nature do the work of
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  Speaker 1: creating new interest in your garden by adding flowers that
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  Speaker 1: change color. Seusstyr is a certified Master gardener and Naturalist
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  Speaker 1: volunteer with University of Illinois Extension serving DuPage, Cane, and
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  Speaker 1: Kendall Counties.