The first is one of those questions people around here never want to answer but, can any of you tell me what you think a starting place might be for single asiatic lily stems? I'm not doing bouquets-- just by the stem. Boy are they nice, though (well... some of them are... some are a bit short). Retail at farmer's market (and a ritzy one).

Second, WHEN to cut sunflowers so they'll last? I've got several thousand that are all going to start blooming this week (finally, sheesh) and I don't know how to cut them. Last year they were drooping a day later.

Kristen, in the thick of it...

August is a perfect time for sunflowers actually. Don't feel you are late with this one. You didn't, however, mention which sunflowers you were concerned. On the Sunbright, many times we don't get them cut until they are fully cupped. In our heat, they came on with a vengeance this season. These things have a habit of opening by the thousands during the night. As my granddaughter says, "Boom. It happens. No problem with these however. They last two weeks in the vase. It's always a good idea to cut into preservative water. Check the water level again if you are holding them for any length of time. These folks are heavy drinkers. I'm assuming the sunflowers that are droopy the following day for you are the multi-branching type. We have never had good results with these. By nature, they are droopy. One cannot expect to get top dollar for these at the market. Every Tom, Dick, and Harry grow the multi-branching. I guess because they get many cuttings per plant. So, we stick with the single stem variety. And, we try to stay ahead of the game with some of the new varieties. Here's a photo of our latest sunflower obsession..........

They're not droopy. The bunches on the left and the right were stuck in the container at an angle. I used the medium and small flower heads for these. Because our spacing is 6" and 9" and 12," we're able to harvest three sizes.

Flowerfarmer, wow, that is a lovely bouquet. what is the red??? I can't quite see it...

gardenlover, thanks-- I cut some when they were like this and they are doing much better!!

flowerfarmer-- actually, last summer I had mostly single-stem types (this summer, I do have quite a few multibranching which I'm not liking as well) and the single-stems drooped too. I think I have been cutting too late-- gotta cut a bit earlier , right before the "Boom it happens" part.