The thing that interests me the most about research is that everything around us has a history.  The origins of the flowers in a garden and the story of how they each came to be available to us would give a pretty complete history lesson. Did you know that the seeds of the humble hollyhock traveled to England from the Holy Land in the saddlebags of returning Crusaders? Or that the tulip industry originated from the theft of bulbs given to a Dutch university that were gifts presented by a Turkish diplomat. Tulips soon became a source of speculation, after people learned to give them a virus that damaged the color gene sometimes resulting in spectacular varieties like red and yellow striped tulips. Roses imported from China were considered so important that they were actually given safe passage through Napoleonic Naval blockades. Those Valentine’s Day roses are pretty expensive, but they were once a gift fit for an empress. Josephine first brought them to Europe for her garden at Malmaison.