To get you in the romantic mood, for the first time Lulu Guinness has just launched online its Life is a Bed of Roses collection - a suitably red rose-adorned bed linen range.

"One of my sayings is 'before going to bed count your blessings' and there is nothing more luxurious than a bed covered in beautiful bed linen," explains Guinness.

The disappointing performance of "Chinese Democracy," which was distributed by Universal Music's Interscope Geffen A&M label group, comes at a tough time for Best Buy. The Richfield, Minn., company recently warned that sales for the last third of its fiscal year ending Feb. 28 could fall 5% to 15% from a year earlier. The company is expected to post lower quarterly earnings Tuesday.

Best Buy declined to discuss "Chinese Democracy." In an interview before the album's debut, Gary Arnold, the retailer's senior entertainment officer, predicted it would be the rock record of the year.

Reached for comment, Guns N' Roses manager Irving Azoff predicted the album would ultimately sell well, adding: "The race is far from over."

Whereas Best Buy backed "Chinese Democracy" with a marketing campaign centered solely on the album, Wal-Mart saw "Black Ice" as a way to sell more than music. The company hawked AC/DC T-shirts and an exclusive AC/DC version of MTV Networks' Rock Band videogame.

"As we looked at AC/DC's loyal fan base, that's when this idea came about: How do we pull in the music with other things?" Gary Severson, Wal-Mart's senior vice president for entertainment and electronics, said in an interview. "Some artists allow you that opportunity."

AC/DC has served as a youth icon for decades. It came into the release of "Black Ice" with the most popular back catalog of any band other than the Beatles, even though its music isn't available through download services such as Apple Inc.'s iTunes Store.

The blooms are genetically modified and have been implanted with a gene that simulates the synthesis of blue pigment in pansies.

The flowers, which were displayed at the International Flower Expo Tokyo, will go on sale commercially next Autumn.

Megumi Mitsunaga, a spokeswoman for IFEX, said: "This is the first time that these blue roses have been put on display in public.

"They are attracting lots of attention here because they are so unusual."

The rose boasts a long history, with horticulturalists developing tens of thousands of varieties in an extensive palette including red, white, pink, and yellow. This palette has never included blue because rose does not have the blue pigment, and past attempts to breed this color rose have gone nowhere. With so many disappointments, the term blue rose has become synonymous with the impossible - until 2004, when Suntory and Florigene biotechnology proved successful in developing the "impossible" blue rose. In the process of pursuing the blue rose, Suntory and Florigene also created Moondust, the world's first blue carnation.

• 1990 Suntory launches joint venture with Australian company Florigene Ltd. to focus on developing blue roses
• 1995 World's first blue carnations successfully developed
• 1997 Suntory launches sales of the first blue carnations, named Moondust, in Japan
• 2004 Blue roses successfully developed
• 2008 Blue roses granted approval under Cartagena Law
• 2009 Suntory launches sales of blue roses (planned)

To highlight their vibrant blooms amid the towering redwoods that shade the original circa 1882 Korbel Family House, Corral and his team have surrounded the rose plantings with an elegant ground cover of white bachelor buttons and used in the planting beds dark mulch created from Chardonnay grapes crushed for Korbel champagne. Two beautiful fountains have been restored, their gentle murmur enhancing the natural ambience. Half barrels featuring spring annuals and weeping trees (cedar, spruce, pine, birch, beech and cherry), introduced last year in Korbel's public areas and parking lot, have been expanded in number to allow tasting room visitors to share the garden experience.