Quite a few existing threads on this lately: Here is a link that might be useful: fragrant, good for the vase...

I just consulted my Specialty Cut Flowers book by Armitage and Laushman, and unfortunately the first thing that hit me was "white flowers decline more rapidly than other colors". Not too promising. To be honest, from what I'm reading there doesn't seem to be a firm consensus, from cutting to preserving. The book says "Proper stage of harvest is critical but debatable" and goes on to say that you should cut when 1/2 the flowers are open but before open flowers start to fade. It also says the "stems must be hydrated with a hydrating solution, and that conditioning using warm water has been suggested. If the panicles are not turgid by the time the water cools, place stems in hot water a second time; 2 to 3 changes may be necessary for thorough conditioning." It continues that "fresh flowers persist only 2-3 days if poorly conditioned, but persist 7-10 days if properly conditioned." It lists what several farmers do; if you want, e-mail me and I can transcribe that information for you. Good luck! Dee

The pollen-less hybrid sunflowers I have tried all do well in a vase, lasting close to two weeks in plain water, and the water here is also hard. I've settled on just the ProCut and Sunrich series lately and they do well for me. I think Kim gave you good advice about when to cut, although I haven't had a problem with cutting them at almost any time of day. I strip all except the top two or three leaves. ThinMan

All great advice CGDahlias. Do you also recommend cutting into hot water, or pretty warm water vs cold? I have done that for a couple years but haven't done any real longevity comparisons to cutting into a cold water container.