I'm afraid this photo is a fake. There is no black color in the
rose family. There are some roses that are real dark with black edges. But that is as close as you get. Remember there is no blue color in roses and I think you need a little blue to make black at least somewhere in the mix!!!

It's obviously dyed. There are lots of florist websites that show all different colors of dyed roses. Take a look at the link below. Click on "Rozen" and then scroll down to see all sorts of florist roses in alphabetical order. In the B section you'll find a black dyed rose.

Here is a link that might be useful: Four Seasons

Either dyed or photoshopped. There's a recent thread where we've all been playing around with making roses blue with photoshop.

There are a couple of very dark red ones that can get a sort of blackish edge but nothing that black.

Here is a link that might be useful: Blue roses

It sure is beautiful!! I never thought I would like a black rose - but it's beautiful. :) Might not look good on a bush though. (if it was real.)
Carol

I've looked it up on the net and apparently, there's nothing so far out there that disputes it. They say it's black because of the overly concentrated magenta it produces. Think Black Jade or Black Baccara except even darker. They appear very black because they grow on the Euphrates (known for its fertile soils), plus the microclimate of Halfeti contributes to it's blackness. I dunno about that photo in the OP if is true or shopped, but when the rose is taken outside of its native habitat, it turns magenta as seen on the link:

Here is a link that might be useful: Black Roses

This post was edited by Resolute_Noir on Tue, Dec 24, 13 at 13:32

Wow, thanks Resolute_Noir. So, it looks like there is something to this picture after all, besides shameless photo-shopping. The next question I'd like to ask, if anyone knows, is how much the environmental conditions, especially soil quality, can change the pigmentation of a rose? I was unaware that a rose could be markedly altered by the soil it grows in, but then again, I've never experimented with this. I wonder what on earth is in the soil of Halfeti, Turkey, to turn a rose from magenta to black? Does anybody know? If so, PLEASE post it here! And herein lies a fascinating prospect for rose growers: if the natural conditions in this part of Turkey can do the job, can't we figure out what's causing the change and make soil amendments to our own soils to the same effect? Perish the thought, could we even create a blue rose this way? Nah, with so much interest in blueness, I'm sure somebody would have figured this out already if it were possible. But then again, maybe we just aren't thinking about the right soil amendments to do the job. What a fascinating possibility!

This post was edited by thisbud4u on Wed, Dec 25, 13 at 0:40

Soil, and weather conditions can make some pretty dramatic color changes in a rose. Depending on the variety of course. In general hotter temps will make a lot of roses paler in color and cooler temps can make the colors more intense. But there are a few that work the opposite way. And more or less sunshine will make a difference in the color too. A rose in partial shade may have a different color than the same variety that's in full sun. Soil nutrients and ph makes a difference but I have no idea how that works. Maybe someone else will know.

Well, the soil in the banks of the Euphrates river was known to have hosted the earliest civilization of Mesopotamia, so just the fact that river has attracted the ancient Mesopotamians to build their civilization on its banks says a lot about how good the soil is there.

And yes, what Seil says is true. I have a striped rose that's show its pink and white stripes fully on summer when the sunlight's more intense, and on our "winter" or cold/dry season when the skies are usually overcast, the rose shows the stripes only on its reverse and the stripes are much less contrasted since it's more pink than white.

total crock, methinks, in the usual internet scheme of pranksters, scammers and outright lies.
I did offer a more considered reply over on the antiques forum - but still came to the same conclusion that the Euphrates (which was the cereal growing capital of the middle east could have pure gold in the soils but it is NOT going to produce a fully formed hybrid tea (a wild rose....ha ha......without any visible means of reproduction - stamens for example) out of wild stock which has any consistency, reliability or indeed, validity.
Rubbish, in other words.

Think they should kick the sellers off ebay that offer this stuff.

Just like this one. All they have sold is electronics. What do they know about rose seeds? This is not how getting roses the color you want works.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rose seed on Ebay

That last link is some one in the USA, if they mail via the postal service I think that ups the level of fraud. Might be worth ordering some rainbow seeds :)

The photo in the initial post is - I guarantee you - a Photoshop manipulation; the person simply selected the red channel and did a 100% desaturate. Its the easiest thing in the world to do, if you have any experience with Photoshop at all. See?...

{{gwi:345444}}

Yeah. I think you're right. Seems impossible to get that black of a rose. Nice visual you gave. :)
Carol