You can cut them back, they will resprout and bloom. I've got a big three footer and it's got flopping stems too, and we haven't had storms. It's really just the nature of the plant. In the wild the plant will flop its stems over and they will bloom horizontally. The seeds are heavy, not airborne, and drop beneath the flopped stems. In this way it will spread and colonize.

Thanks :) That's good to know. I picked a spot that ended up being to small for them. They shot up so quickly. I don't know what to expect from most of the flowers I've planted, so it's going to be quite a learning experience this summer.

They are common weeds around here (being monitored for addition to the noxious weed list) and on dry, sunny and hot sites they never flop and are usually at about 3'.

Vera

I grow mine in nearly drought conditions with things like gaillardia and nepeta. They don't flop. They're good for a cottage look.

The tall ones drove me nuts last year doing the same thing. The dwarfs are nicer I think. I have one volunteer of that this year. It's just starting to bloom now, very pretty.

Karen

I won't water the second batch of bachelor buttons I planted out so much. I watered the others pretty frequently when it didn't rain.

I didn't know there were dwarf bachelor buttons. I didn't notice any at the seed racks I was looking at anyway. I will keep that in mind for next year.