Harvest lower flowers - early mature - pix

This doesn't seem right.

I'm three weeks into flowering an ice plant. The main colas are doing fine, full of glisteny sparkly white and green lushness. But the lower nodes' flowers are already starting to turn yellow, orange and amber.

I know the lower flowers often ripen sooner than the top, but this seems too early. Should I let them continue developing, despite their darkening colors? Or, should I harvest them gradually as they ripen?

Who else encounters this?

(I should point out this is my first grow, and might be a bit eager to sample my wares -- looking for an excuse to harvest. But really, those lower buds... I don't want to let them get past their prime.)

Here's the plant.



Here's the top unripe cola:




And these are the flowers two nodes below the main cola. Yellowing and withering?:

let 'em keep going.

Is that normal? Can you tell me more about the ripening process, esp as pertains to a difference in upper and lower flowers? Purty please?

For shits and giggles, here's another pic of the main cola, 3 weeks into 12/12