How to Inject Roses With Dye

Dye white roses to create any color you like.

Roses are available in many colors, but many varieties are appreciated for their scent more than their color. There are also times when you may not be able to find the exact color you would like for a specific purpose. For spectacular color results, dye roses growing in your garden using a simple injection method. Achieve a tie-dyed effect as well, with each flower having multiple colored petals. Using white or cream colored roses will give you the best results because the roses will attain a color truer to the color of the dye.

Things You'll Need

• Food coloring
• Hypodermic needles
• Heavy-duty work gloves

Instructions

1. Fill each needle with one color of full-strength food coloring. You will need as many needles as you have colors to dye. Use standard food coloring available in grocery stores, or find neon colors in confectionery or craft stores. Needles are available from local pharmacies.

2. Grasp the rose by its stem, pulling it gently away from the bush. Use heavy-duty work gloves when handling thorny rose stems.

3. Insert the needle directly into the stem, with the tip facing the flower, about 6 inches beneath the flower. Inject the dye into the stem. Be careful not to insert the needle through the other side of the stem or you will waste your dye.

4. Inject additional colors of dye in the stem for a tie-dyed effect by creating a circle of injection sites around the stem.

5. Refill the needle with the same color dye to inject additional roses.

6. Water the roses according to your usual routine. As the water is absorbed, it will push the dye up through the stem and into the flower.

7. Allow about one week for the colors to be absorbed up into the flower head.

Tips & Warnings

• You may need to inform your pharmacist of the purpose of your needles, depending on local laws for the sale of hypodermics.

• The more dye you inject into the stem, the more intense the color of the rose will be.

• Reuse the needles only for dyeing additional roses and not for medical purposes.

References

• Home and Garden Ideas; How to Make Tie-Dye Roses; Elizabeth Hannigan; May 2011