When should I choose ‘Peak flower’, ‘Peak opening’, or ‘Peak pollen’ for open flowers, open pollen cones, or pollen release intensity?
Since the intensity choices for ‘Peak flower’, ‘Peak opening’, or ‘Peak pollen’ for open flowers, open pollen cones, or pollen release overlap with those for ’10 or more’ flowers or pollen cones, you should choose the intensity choice that seems to best describe your plant at the time of observation. For plants that flower multiple times in a year, you may see one flowering episode that seems to have a distinct peak with lots and lots of flowers open at once for a short period of time. When the same plant flowers again later in the year, you may see 10 or more flowers on the plant at one time, but nothing that seems to be a big peak. You may also find that even with plant species that flower only once a year and often have a distinct peak, in some years your plant may have few flowers and the normal “peak” does not seem to occur. In this case, you may decide to report seeing ‘10 or more’ flowers on the plant without ever reporting that you see ‘Peak flower’ that year.
