US: Why breeding a new flower was once morally radical

In a typical gardening store you’ll find hundreds of varieties of flowers, all cultivated for specific traits related to qualities like appearance or resistance to pests. The diversity of flowers available today is partly a result of modern genetic engineering, but also partly the result of a very different kind of breakthrough — one made 200 years ago by a small, dedicated group of horticulturists who dared to challenge religious orthodoxy regarding the creation of new kinds of life.

Cross-breeding flowers by deliberately taking pollen from one and dusting it on the other might seem like basic horticulture, but initially it was seen as a morally radical act. “People were heavily influenced by religion and this feeling that only God could create a new flower,” says Judith M. Taylor, author of the new book, “Visions of Loveliness: Great Flower Breeders from the Past.”

Taylor’s book is the story of the birth of modern botany in the 19th century. At the time many naturally occurring flowers were being imported from China to Europe. Among them was a variety of rose that bloomed in the summer and, unlike European roses, bloomed again in the fall. Taylor says the desirable qualities of this rose from China caused the “what-if brigade [to spring] into action. What if we crossed this flower with [another] we like a lot?”

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