David, yes I think it does have to do with stress on the plant, if that's what you meant by "emergency". Whenever a plant is stressed, either by too little water, or a change in temperature they get the signal (might be hormonal) to produce seeds.
I bought two on sale recently in 4in. pots, let them get a bit too dry before I planted them out, and both put on flowers. See pics, the second plant has put on more flowers since I picked off the big terminal flower head, too. Third pic is one that has been in a big container all year. No flowers in sight.
Perhaps once the new ones get established in their larger pots and I can give them some fertilizer they will resume leafy growth.
I don't bother with seeds, and propagate by cuttings because it is so easy, but they do seed themselves here anyway.
The ones in the garden beds do not dry out, so they start putting up flowers late in the summer, or fall here. Sometimes it happens when the nights start to get cool, which is usually around mid-October.
