Consumer Color Preference
In New Guinea Impatiens
Robert Berghage, Assistant Professor of Horticulture and
Dennis Wolnick, Associate Professor of Floriculture

Summary
Potential consumers were surveyed in the spring of 1996 to gain insight into preferences for flower and leaf color in New Guinea impatiens. Survey participants indicated a preference for dark saturated solid colors, and bicolor flowers. The most preferred solid flower colors were red-violet, and red. The least preferred solid flower colors were pink and blush. Potential consumers indicated a preference for bicolor flowers over their solid color counterparts. Colored leaves were preferred to solid green and leaves with solid red upper or lower surfaces were preferred 2:1 over variegated foliage.

New Guinea impatiens have become one of the most important spring crops for many growers. The wholesale value to US floriculture producers increased 18% from 1994 to 1995 primarily due to increased production (USDA, 1996). Baskets remain the dominant product, making up 46% of the total in 1995. Versatility and variety are two of the reasons for the rapid increase in production and popularity of this plant since its introduction to US floriculture in the 70¹s (Banner, W. and M Klopmeyer, 1995). Rapid and continuous development of new and improved cultivars have lead to tremendous diversity in flower color, leaf color, plant size and growth rate. Many cultivars are available that perform well in either small or large containers, baskets or outdoor flowerbeds (Berghage, 1996).

In the spring of 1996, we grew 118 cultivars of New Guinea impatiens in the greenhouses at Penn State for greenhouse and field evaluations. Plants were grown in 4-inch pots and in 8 inch hanging baskets. While 118 cultivars are a large number in one place, it by no means includes all the cultivars on the market. Yet, with that many cultivars in one greenhouse it became rapidly clear that commercial growers face a bewildering choice of cultivars. Ease of production and plant quality are clearly important criteria for growers to use in selecting cultivars (Staby et. al. 1979) and there is a great deal of information available on greenhouse and field performance (Berghage, 1996; Bailey, 1996). Performance evaluations suggest that there are many cultivars that meet ease of production and quality standards, thus the cultivar mix selected from among these "good" cultivars can be based on other criteria such as consumer preference.

To help provide commercial growers some guidance for making New Guinea impatiens cultivar selections, based in part on consumer preference, a survey was conducted in the spring of 1996. The survey was designed to address three basic questions concerning New Guinea color choices.

• What solid flower color(s) do consumers prefer?
• Is there a difference in preference between solid color flowers and bicolor flowers?
• What leaf color do consumers prefer?

Methodology
Plants were selected from among the 118 New Guinea impatiens cultivars in the 1996 Penn State variety trial to represent the full range of solid flower colors found in New Guinea impatiens. Ten colors were identified (Table 1). One plant, uniform for size, form, and flower number, of each color was selected and randomly arranged in a row on a display table, and survey participants were asked to rank their flower color preference from 1 (most preferred) to 10 (least preferred). Survey participants were selected from the public attending the 1996 Memorial Day festival in Boalsburg, PA. Over 150 potential consumers were surveyed resulting in 135 surveys with usable responses. Consumer preference for bicolor flowers was examined by substituting plants with bicolor flowers into the cultivar arrangement on the display table at 3 random intervals.

To examine preference for leaf color, 4 cultivars with similar flower color, and plant size, but with leaves differing in color were used (Table 2. Survey participants were asked to compare all 6 possible pairs of each of the 4 plants, and select the plant they preferred from each pair. Chi-Square was used to analyze results. Survey participants were also asked their age and gender and whether or not they had purchased a New Guinea impatiens in the last two years.

Results
The ages of survey participants ranged from 8 to 82, with a mean of 48 and median of 49 years old. Eighty-four people responded to the question of age with usable answers, thirteen responses were not clear and 38 were left blank. Eighteen percent of the 135 survey participants were male, 59% were female, and 23% did not provide gender information. Thirty-three percent of the participants indicated that they had purchased a New Guinea impatiens in the last 2 years, 35% had not, while 31% did not answer this question. The age of each potential consumer was correlated with whether a purchase had been made in the last two years (Table 3). Survey participants under 40 were less likely to have purchased a New Guinea impatiens in the last two years than those over 40. Gender of survey participants was not significantly correlated with purchase in the last two years or with participant age.

Flower Color Ratings
Survey participants preferred darker more saturated flower colors such as red-violet or red and bicolor flowers. The most strongly preferred solid flower color was red-violet. The most preferred bicolor was the purple star. These were followed by red, dark pink, orange, lavender, salmon, white, light lavender, pink, and blush. The results of the survey are summarized in Table 1. This table presents the average rating and the distribution of ratings in three categories. The average provides a general idea of how people feel about this color. The distribution provides relative information about how many people strongly like a color (% respondents ranking it from 1-3) are more or less neutral on the color (ranking from 4 -7) or don¹t care for the color (ranking 8-10). For example, the average rating for the red-violet cultivar was 3.3 and 62% of the survey respondents selected this color as one of their top three-color choices. Only 9% of the survey participants placed this color in their bottom three color choices. In contrast dark pink, orange and lavender all had similar average ratings but the specific rank assigned by survey participants varied by color. Lavender was one of the top 3 color preference choices for 42%, compared to 34% and 29% for orange and dark pink respectively. Lavender was also one of the bottom three color preferences for a larger percentage of respondents than orange or dark pink. Few respondents indicated that dark pink was in either their top or bottom three color preferences. What this suggests is that people either like lavender flowers or they don¹t, but that dark pink is pretty much OK for everybody.

Leaf Color
Survey participants showed a definite preference for leaves with some color in addition to green. Leaves with a dark green upper surface and red lower surface, or leaves with red upper and lower surfaces were preferred by almost two thirds of the survey participants, and variegated leaves were preferred over plain green leaves (Table 2). There was no significant difference in preference between leaves with a dark green upper surface and red lower surface and leaves with red upper and lower surfaces. Solid green leaves were the least preferred of the 4 surveyed leaf colors.

Summary and Conclusion
The consumers participating in this study preferred New Guinea impatiens with colored leaves and bicolor and darker saturated solid flower colors like red and red-violet. There seems to be a general agreement that red flowers appeal to many potential flower purchasers. Red flowers have been preferred in studies with cut roses, cut carnations, geraniums, and poinsettia (Behe, 1993). The strong preference shown by survey respondents for bicolor New Guinea impatiens flowers also finds some precedent in studies done with cut flowers. Cut flower bunches made up of nonhomogeneous colors are more appealing to potential consumers than homogeneous colored bunches (Robertson and Chatfield, 1981).

Of course, many factors can influence general preferences for flower color. Gender for example, influences the preference for red roses (Robertson and Chatfield, 1981) and geraniums (Zehner et al, 1982) but was not a significant factor in preference for red and red-violet New Guinea impatiens in this study. Other factors might also be expected to influence consumer preference. For example, leaf color preference was evaluated using plants with pink/salmon flowers in this survey. Several of the survey participants indicated a strong dislike for variegated green/yellow leaves and pink flowers. They stated that they thought the plants were "gaudy". Although beyond the scope of this survey, it is interesting to speculate on how consumer preference might be influenced by the interaction between leaf and flower color. This would be an interesting topic for further study.

These survey results might suggest to growers and retailers a mix of New Guinea impatiens including at least 50% red, red-violet, and bicolor flowers with solid colored red and red green leaves. The color choice of cultivars to grow and market is important and should be made carefully. The range of flower colors in the product mix and the way plants are displayed could have an influence on consumer flower color preference. For example in this study the preference for red flowers was enhanced by placing a salmon bicolor flower next to the red flowered plant. Many consumers have clear preferences colors and are able to rank at least 10 colors without difficulty.

With the large number of cultivars and the wide variety of colors now available in New Guinea impatiens growers can choose based on color from among the cultivars that have good production and garden performance characteristics in their regions. Bright reds, red-violet, and lavender bicolor flowers with dark green and red leaves are clearly preferred but orange, dark pink, salmon and salmon bicolor flowers and plants with variegated leaves are a strong second choice. These latter colors are likely to show their strength in the marketplace as follow-up purchases and purchases by consumers with more plant purchase experiences. Whites, light colors, blushes and plants with plain green leaves should have a place in the product mix (in smaller numbers) both to show off other colors and because they are preferred by a number of customers.

Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful for the plant material and support provided by Paul Ecke Poinsettias (cv¹s Anguilla, Prepona, Bonaire, Timor, Moorea and Samoa), Ball FloraPlant (cv¹s Celebrette Lavender, Celebration Light Lavender II and Celebration Purple Star), Mikkelsens (Pot ŒO¹ Gold Pink), Green Leaf Enterprises (Volcano Orange) and Fischer Geraniums (Flora).

Literature Cited

1. Bailey, Douglas. A. 1996. New Guinea Impatiens Production. NC Flower Growers Bulletin. 41(3):6-12.
2. Banner, W. and M. Klopmeyer. eds. 1995. New Guinea Impatiens: A Ball Guide. Ball Publishing Batavia, IL.
3. Behe, B. K. 1993. Floral Marketing and Consumer Research. HortScience 28(1):11-14.
4. Berghage, R. D. 1996. New Guinea Impatiens. Penn State Trial Gardens Report. http://Garden.cas.psu.edu
5. Berghage, R. D. 1996. Growing Trends. GMPro. 15(1):72
6. Robertson, J. L., and L.H. Chatfield. 1981. Loose-bunch Merchandising of Fresh Flowers. Florists Review. 169(4370):14-15, 52-53
7. Kelleher, Christine. 1994. The Word on Mum Marketing. Part 1: Consumer perceptions. Supermarket Floral. June 1994.
8. Miller, W. B. and M. S. Williams. 1994. 1994 New Guinea Impatiens Landscape Trials. South Carolina Greenhouse Newsletter. 8(5):8-10.
9. Shafer, Barbara. S. and John W. Kelly. 1986. The influence of cultivar, price, and longevity on consumer preferences for potted chrysanthemums. HortScience 21(6):1412-1413.
10. Staby, G. L., J. L. Robertson and M. S. Cunningham. 1979. The Chain of Life - An Education Program. Flowers Canada in cooperation with the University of Guelph and Ontario Ministry of Agriculture.
11. USDA Agricultural Statistics Service. 1996. Floriculture Crops: 1995 Summary.
12. USDA. USDA General Marketing Color Preference. Sp Cr 6-1(96).
13. Wolnick, Dennis J. 1983. Consumer Preference Studies with Zonal Geraniums. Florist Review. 173(4476):31-33.
14. Zehner, M. D., L. J. Nelson and W. H. Carlson. 1982 Color Preferences for Hybrid Seed Geraniums. Michigan State Agricultural Experiment Station Research Report. 441. pp.12

Information Update
The Ornamental Horticulture Extension Web site has been updated to include previous issues of this newsletter. Remember to checkout this rapidly growing information resource site at http://hortweb.cas.psu.edu/ohortex/index.html

A new addition to the web site is a calendar of educational events planned throughout the state during the coming winter. For those of you looking for programs to promote, attend, or if you planning a program and wonder if there will be any competing programs this site may help. You can reach it directly at http://hortweb.cas.psu.edu/ohortex/greenindustrycal.html

Finally, if you have programs that you would like added to the calendar, please forward the information to Jim Sellmer at jcs32@psu.edu. Review the information provided on the site and provide similar information for your program. Thanks!

Information provided by Rob Berghage and Jim Sellmer Penn State Department of Horticulture, Ornamental Horticulture Extension Specialist, 103 Tyson Building, University Park, PA 16802, (814) 863-2571

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