It feels very naughty to digitally manipulate the colour of roses to move them away from reality. So I don’t do it often. My incentive for this tomfoolery was that, browsing through other bloggers’ interpretations for the Weekly Photo Challenge: Layered, I saw lots of flowers, and couldn’t resist joining in with some double flowered roses of my own.
As so many people desire a blue rose, this was my first attempt to make nature unnatural. It’s not entirely successful, but, in the words of so many British quizmasters, I’ve started, so I will finish.
The blue roses do have an alien beauty, once your mind accepts the affront. Perhaps on another world all roses are like this, and those there crave pink ones.
I made the lavender one next, cropping the picture to focus on the most attractive flower – for me, the sideways facing one at the bottom of the cluster. Lavender roses are not half as sought after as blue roses, but if you are kind enough to follow me despite the odd affront to your senses such as this one, I’m hoping the lavender version will appear in your feed. The blue one might be too much of a nasty shock for purists like myself.
Finally I’ve made an orange one, which looks surprisingly realistic.
I’m awarding the accolade ‘Top Rosarian’ to all those who can guess what colour this rose really is. It’s well worth hazarding a guess if you crave the honorary title, as there aren’t that many rose colours left. [Clue for any real rosarians who have stuck with me through this floral fantasy: the bloom shape is distinctive if you know your English roses. ]
And finally a treat for lovers of shabby chic – a cluster of ‘Scepter’d Isle’ roses, the colour that nature intended, with a few faded cosmos flowers to accentuate the shabbiness.
Phew. Normal service is resumed…
Susan Rushton 
Wonderful! The altered ones and the natural one…
Thank you! I might have liked the blue version better if I’d have cropped that too.
Glorious!
A rose by any colour would look as sweet?
Beautiful! (My best guess for the original would be Brother Cadfael, which would mean that the original color was pink.)
An excellent guess, but the rose I have taken so many liberties with is ‘Golden Celebration’.
I thought the colors were beautiful! Edit away 🌹🤓
It’s always good to be a rebel… in a small way!
Beautiful edits, I adored the orange one most 🙂
The orange one surprised me how good it looked. I could see that one being a commercial success, never mind the blue!
Ha, amazing how the world of editing changes things. Makes me wonder about so much more than just flower photos!
I don’t know my English roses, Graham Thomas is a favorite though so that will be my guess 😉
Very close. Sadly, you didn’t mention ‘yellow’, though it was indicated by your guess. I am awarding you the (slightly less desirable) honorary title of Almost Top Rosarian.
I’ll take it!
Have you read The Blue Rose by Anthony Eglin? I think you might enjoy it!
No, I haven’t. Thanks for the suggestion!
Actually the blue rose is quite charming though too similar to a hydrangea for me. I’m guessing the pretty orange one is originally yellow and possibly a Graham Thomas.
It was originally yellow – Golden Celebration – so you are Top Rosarian! Congratulations.
Ah, Golden Celebration. We bought two of those for my parents’ golden wedding anniversary.
Very nice!!
Thank you!
Aaaghhh! What a jolt! I know very little about roses and even less about digital tomfoolery (great word), but I can’t help noticing how wonderfully the different colors display petal contours. Though I suffered a bit of a brain kink with these, I think that “suspension of disbelief” is good for us from time to time, or maybe daily.
Hang on – that wasn’t electric blue was it? (to give you the shock – tee hee!) I picked the rose specially because of the shading in the petals, although it had the effect of turning part of the blue to turquoise under my inexpert hands.
I have to confess I liked these. Just don’t do it again 🙂
Message understood.
They’re lovely even if they’ve been altered. It’s ok to dabble in color art once in a while! At least you were honest about it and didn’t try to make people think the color was real. 🙂
Yes, there is that.