Glow-in-the-dark flowers being sold in Topeka

TOPEKA (KSNT) - A new glow-in-the-dark flower bioengineered by scientists has popped up at a local Topeka garden center.

Skinner Garden Store in Topeka has a new type of petunia, "firefly petunias", that shares a gene with a bioluminescent mushroom that makes the flower glow at night. 27 News spoke to K-State Nursery Crop Production and Marketing Professor Cheryl Boyer about the new plants hitting the market.

"Some mushrooms had different types of bioluminescence and they engineered it to be brighter and brighter and brighter until they were able to take those genes and insert them into the petunia plant," Boyer said.

The engineers at Light Bio partnered with a few growers to get the plants to consumers. Boyer said the engineers spent about a year doing tissue propagation and greenhouse production so the plants could be provided to garden centers. She said the scientists focused on petunias with white flowers because the bioluminescence shows up better.

"The people who created it are engineers, and so there's still quite a bit of work to do on the horticulture side to make them an even stronger plant with more characteristics that consumers will find interesting," Boyer said.

In September 2023, the USDA approved Light Bio’s genetically engineered firefly petunias to be bred and sold. Light Bio plans to create more colorful bioluminescent plants in collaboration with biotech company Ginkgo Bioworks.

"I think they may be here to stay and we might see lots of different plants that feature that characteristic in the future," Boyer said.

Boyer said the petunias are annual flowers that grow best outside. She said the first frost of the year will kill them off, so the flowers won't be overwintering. Boyer said that because the flowers are intellectual property of the engineers, propagation beyond licensed growers is not allowed.

You can currently purchase firefly petunias at Skinner Garden Store Inc., located at 4237 Northwest Lower Silver Lake Road. The flowers cost $25 and come in a 4.3-inch pot. You can learn more about Skinner Garden Store by clicking here.

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