Ruth - I don't see anyone else jumping in here, so I'll offer a little of my meager knowledge. I don't cut my bells until they are at least a foot tall, and as I recall, a lot of the little white centers are fairly prominent at that time. I put them in water as I'm cutting, and I've never had a problem with wilting.

In Specialty Cut Flowers, Armitage and Laushman say that you should cut them when "the flowers are 1/2 open and green". That sounds to me like you could cut them fairly early and be OK.

Hope this helps.

ThinMan

That pretty much sounds like exactly what I did! Mine are probably 12-18" tall..picked early morning and immediately put into water. I picked on Friday morning..looked really good yesterday. This AM, they are starting to go...from the bottom up...they just get all limp and mushy..
Have you ever tried preserving with glycerine? And if so, can you then use them in a "wet" arrangement...or only dried? ANY info is helpful. I have lots of them...and if that works, will probalby try the glycerine method...

Hi Ruth, I too, shall throw in my two cents here. If you are of the mind to, hydration solution is very helpful for B of I, if you dont have any, then be really sure that you strip off all the leaves as they contribute heavily to the quick demise of the flowers. Cut as you have been when it is cool outside and place into warm water. I cut everything into warm water, except zinns which go into cool water. You could try Sarah Ravens trick of searing the stems in very hot water if they appear to be losing their turgidity (sp?). As to the glycerine question, I dont know, I suppose they would preserve well with it but usually they get dried upside down and hanging, at least mine do. I think that with a wet arrangement and a 'preserved' stem added you run the risk of adding bacteria to your fresh stems because the preserved stem will start to rot almost immediately. IMHO. Best of luck. Kat

OK--I'm snake bit with these plants. I tried to preserve them with Glycerine....according to directions...2 parts hot water, one part glycerine. Let cool and put stem into solution. It says B or I take 2 weeks. Withing 2-3 days,about halfway out the stems just get limp and droop. The bells are fine, as are the first half of the stem. It's almost as if you took the stem and bent it double. There is absolutely no strength to the stem..it just almost is the same as a leaf...HELP!