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The postharvest attributes of six specialty cut flower species were studied. First year results indicate that Achillea filipendulina `Coronation Gold' had a vase-life of 10.7 days in deionized water (DI) and can be stored one week at 1.7°C and shipped for one day. Buddeleia davidii (Butterfly Bush) had a vase life of 3.8 days in DI water and tolerated two weeks of cold storage and two days of shipping. Celosia plumosa `Forest Fire' (Plume Celosia) had a vase-life of 5.9 days in DI water and tolerated 2 days of shipping. Cercis canadensis (Redbud) had a vase-life of 9 days in DI water and tolerated one day of shipping. Echinacea purpurea `Bright Star' (Purple Coneflower) had a vase-life of 4.6 days in DI water and tolerated 2 weeks of storage and five days of shipping. Helianthus maximilianii (Maximillian Sunflower) had a vase-life of 6.3 days in DI water and tolerated one week of storage. In addition, silver thiosulfate and 8-hydroxyquinoline citrate increased vase-life of Buddeleia davidii, Celosia plumosa, Echinacea purpurea, and Helianthus maximilianii.
Consumer flower-color preferences are of interest to market researchers, plant producers, and retailers because this information can help them to anticipate accurately the sales product mix. Our objective was to determine consumer bract-color preferences for 47 poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd. ex Klotzsch) cultivars. Visitors (124) to the Franklin Park Conservatory in Columbus, Ohio, rated `Sonora', a red cultivar, highest (4.6 of 5.0) of any cultivar. Nine of ten highest rated cultivars were red. We compared the ratings of poinsettia buyers with those of nonpoinsettia buyers and found only one difference: nonpoinsettia buyers rated `Jingle Bells III', a marble cultivar, higher (4.3) than poinsettia buyers (3.8). We also compared consumers who had purchased a red poinsettia to those who had purchased nonred colors and found that red poinsettia buyers rated `Sonora' higher (4.9) than nonred poinsettia buyers (4.5). Men rated `Red Elegance' higher (3.7) than women (3.3), whereas women rated `Freedom White' higher (3.1) than men (2.4). We found few differences between men and women, buyers and nonbuyers, and nonred buyers and red buyers, which may indicate a relatively homogeneous market that does not greatly differentiate among poinsettia bract color.