This week, I worked on 2 main things:
First, I created a Google form with survey questions, and I emailed it to 30 florists and cut flower growers. I tried to pick florists and cut flower growers from mainly New York State (on mainly the Western side,) but I did find a couple in Pennsylvania and Ohio as well. In my survey, I included questions to learn what the preferences of florists and cut flower growers are. I hope to use this data to create a rating system for the flowers I have studied, or give a recomendation for the top 5 wildflowers I would recomend to florists and cut flower growers. So far I have received 10 responses from my survey!
Second, I found that a few new wildflowers have started to bloom in my area! I was able to collect a couple stems of Joe Pye Weed, Goldenrod, Boneset, and Cardinal Flower. I am now running vase life studies on these flowers.