When you head off to the nursery to oogle the impatiens, you're probably not thinking about the science behind those candy-colored posies. Turns out, the seed world is as secretive as giant pharma. The folks at Swiss seed company Syngenta, a leader in the $3 billion global pot and bedding plant market, know this… and take precautions. When I visited them in Basel, Switzerland, I was shepherded through many locked doors before reaching the inner sanctums. But these seedmeisters, though proprietary, are proud of their products. For Mother's Day we cajoled them into revealing their most innovative '09 flowers and what gives them their special zing. We've included patent numbers, so you can verify their scientific chops for yourself.
