Blue Busy Lizzie blooms

A blue busy lizzie, from Himalayas. The explorers, botanists Yuan Yong-Ming and Ge Xue-Juan, found a sapphire blue version of the flower while exploring the 16,600ft-deep Namchabarwa Canyon in Tibet four years ago.

The two botanists sent seeds to 71-year-old Ray Morgan, a world expert on impatiens - better known as the Busy Lizzie - to see if he could grow them at his home near Port Talbot, South Wales.

A year later, they bloomed with stunning blue flowers and are now being commercially produced by the Suffolk-based nursery Thompson and Morgan. Nurserymen have "bred" the plant to make it smaller but more prolific than the original.

"The richest blue tones are experienced on cool mornings and the blooms take on a purple tinge by mid-afternoon," said the firm's new product development manager Michael Perry.

The flower is being called the impatiens namchabarwensis blue bird, or Busy Lizzie Blue Bird, in recognition of its Tibetan roots. Link