We’re all searching for the bionic plant that shakes off pests and disease like it has a protective coating, sports a bodacious amount of blooms in vibrant colors and performs for every season.

Is it just a dream? A wild fantasy gardeners have concocted in their heads? Not really.

The future of plants is often plotted in laboratories or the back rooms of nurseries, where flora enthusiasts splice, split, cross and manipulate plants in an attempt to create beacons of indestructibility. The benefits of managed plants are vast. They’re more earth-friendly because they need fewer pesticides and fungicides. They bloom longer, last longer and produce plumper, more juicy bounty. And you might be surprised to know that this manipulation of plants to our whims is nothing new.

Plant breeding has been practiced for millennia, dating back an estimated 9,000 to 11,000 years. In fact, all of today’s principal food crops come from domesticated varieties.

What is a domesticated plant? It’s basically a plant created through an artificial selection process that’s bigger, better and stronger and has fewer undesirable traits. This manipulation renders the plant dependent upon an artificial environment; hence, domestication.

Scientists, horticulturists and plant hobbyists have strived during the past century to increase the quality and yield of crops; boost their tolerance to the environment; buff up their resistance to viruses, fungi, bacteria and pests; and augment their tolerance to herbicides. The manipulation involves either controlled pollination (classical) or genetic engineering (molecular) or both in order to create desired genotypes and phenotypes.

Craig Freeman, a scientist at the Kansas Biological Survey and curator of Kansas University’s R.L. McGregor Herbarium, explains how the plant breeding bug bit.

“About 10,000 years ago, there was a major shift in the way that humans procured food,” he says. “Some of our ancestors went from being hunter-gatherers to food producers. This transition was made possible, in part, as wild plants and animals became domesticated, thereby providing more dependable sources of food. Eventually, humans turned to the domestication of plants for other uses, including fiber, medicine, shelter and aesthetics.”

Two different methods

So how do these two forms of manipulation work?

Classical plant breeding involves the deliberate crossing of individuals,” Freeman explains.

“Usually this is accomplished by a transfer of pollen from the flower of one plant to the stigma of a flower on another plant,” he says. “The intent is to produce viable seeds which will produce a new generation of plants, from which individuals with desirable characteristics can be selected for additional breeding.”

Genetic engineering, Freeman says, involves adding a specific gene or genes to the chromosomes of a plant, or inactivating an existing gene or genes so they are not expressed.

“For example, disease resistance often is imparted in crop plants by adding to their chromosomes the gene from a specific bacterium that produces a protein that is toxic to insects,” he says. “Genetic modification may be advantageous over classical plant breeding because it usually does not alter the rest of the genetic makeup of the plant.”

Or in simpler terms, “Classical uses crossing techniques and molecular uses DNA techniques,” explains Zhanyuan Zhang, research assistant professor of plant sciences at the University of Missouri.

A test case

Although genetically modifying flora provides a clear benefit – improved plants – it also generates a negative consequence.

“Plant breeding usually reducing genetic diversity in a pool of plants so that certain traits are guaranteed to be expressed,” Freeman says. “This reduced genetic diversity can have a down side. For example, a genetically homogeneous stand of a crop plant may be more susceptible to attack by insect, pest or drought than is a genetically heterogeneous stand.”

While there is a slight negative aspect to the practice of plant breeding, it’s a fascinating science of applying human desires to nature. A plant that most gardeners are quite familiar with is the Knock Out rose. This rose was developed in an amateur’s backyard rather than in a laboratory or professional’s nursery.

During the course of 15 years, Bill Radler painstakingly crossed the roses he admired and felt had the best attributes – cool hardiness, disease resistance, compact shape and a long blooming period – and after arduous experimenting, he created one plant that combined them all. The Knock Out rose was born. I thank Mr. Radler because this is one of the only plants in my garden that is still awash in fuchsia.

Freeman has advice for those who want to create their own version of the Knock Out rose, or whatever else suits their fancy.

“There is a growing popularity in the use of native plants as ornamentals and for re-vegetation projects,” he says. “This is good; I encourage people to take advantage of the wonderful diversity of wildflowers and grasses that are indigenous to our region. Try growing them, and if you eventually find yourself charmed by a particular genus or family, you might want to try your hand at manipulating some of the local stock.”

So next time you’re admiring that hardy kale or bending over to inhale the perfumed sweetness of a lilac, keep in mind that most of our plants are not as nature originally intended. But with the fusion of man and nature, eventual perfection may be just on the horizon.