2mo ago

Home gardeners can now buy glowing petunias from 200 in-person retailers across the US – it's making futuristic yard lighting a reality

www.homesandgardens.com

These glowing plants are bioluminescent petunias, bioengineered by scientists at Light Bio. You can now not only buy the Firefly Petunias on the Light Bio website, but they are also available to purchase in store at more than 200 US retailers. This comes after online sales proved the popularity of these remarkable plants since their release last year.

19 comments

what could possibly go wrong?
- These Petunias have been in circulation for over a year. The only difference is that you can buy them in-store as well as online now. They are not an invasive species but very common. I have heard of no problems as of yet and I think any issues would be extremely minor and putting some flowers out there is a net positive considering climate change and electric light pollution. I don't think we have much to worry about.
- I'm also excited for manmade horrors beyond my comprehension!
- Trollocs and Myrddraal.
  
  que?
Neat.
I’m surprised none of the houses in the expensive neighborhood near my apartment have these, they seem nifty. Or maybe they do and I should take more night walks to find out.
- They're fairly new and it's early in the season so maybe you'll be surprised one night. Depending on how much artificial light there is nearby like street lights they might be hard to notice and the could seem a little faint as they show up more in darkness. It would be a cool sight to see them light up a neighborhood once someone plants a bunch though.
Will this fuck with bird migration the way street lighting does?
- I can't comment on bird migration with any expertise but I can say that street light is considerably brighter and I can't really see these contributing to light pollution. The bioluminescence comes from an enzyme that exists in mushrooms and other organisms in nature fairly frequently already.
I want to say last year I saw an article on this and was tempted to at the time get some, and now I am learning how much more easily I could, I am getting more and more tempted.
- Mine ultimately didn't survive through last summer but it was worth the purchase. I'm sure in the right conditions they'll thrive so I'm tempted to get another. It doesn't look like they're in any stores near me but I assume the plants would be pretty healthy if you bought one at a florist.
  
  There is a florist about 200 miles from me, which is not too bad a drive for fresh and healthy plants! I have to be cautious though where I live. It gets over 100 degrees Fahrenheit during the Summer. I also may just have them inside under grow lights.

19 comments