The shoots of flower buds are what you harvest, before they bloom of course.

too far gone! Looks like they were ready 3-7 days ago!

If you aren't in a heat wave - you could take off and discard the flower stalks and see if they send up a nice thick stalk. If its thin, it will be woody, from my experience.

If you have 80/90's high - forget it!!!

leave the flowers, and harvest the seeds for planting in a month or two -

you don't have the zone in your line, so hard to give precise advise.

thanks everyone - im in the central jersey area - not sure how to set my zone or even figure it out

USDA zone map

Looks like you're probably in 6, maybe 7

Here is a link that might be useful: USDA zone map

great thank you