Will the buds open over night if I pick them before bed and put them in water? Just wondering because sometimes we have rain predicted and it ruins the blooms overnight or early morning before I can see them. Has anyone had any luck with that? Also just out of curiosity has anyone tried putting white blooms into water with blue food coloring?

If the buds are ready to open for the following morning and you snip the scape to put into water overnight (like a vase) then, yes, they should open. Glen did an experiment this winter to show how long the scape might last (about 10 days) and how all of the four unbloomed buds opened. The article describing what and how he did it is here: http://garden.org/ideas/view/c...

On the other hand, if you mean that you want to pick a single bud off of the scape and place it in water ... that is another experiment that might help others find out what happens. You'd have to decide if you snap it off or cut it where any stem meets the scape (or both, to see if one is more successful than the other). So, no matter what you might decide to try, if you do take a bud off the scape and find out what happens, I hope you'll let everyone know!

Frillylily, Yes you can pick just the buds and have them open over night. This is something Steve Moldovan taught me years ago when visiting with him and Roy. He picked buds that would open the next day and wrote the name/sdlg number of the daylily on the bud with a sharpie for me to bring home ( makes an easy transport method for hybridizers visiting each other to share pollen, ALWAYS ask for permission for pollen or a bud!) I like to use the small antique medicine bottles for holding blooms or buds, the opening is just the right size to hold the perianth tube and most of the ones I have are cobalt blue making a pretty display as well. Late fall, when it is to cold for anything to open properly, I frequently bring buds in the house from the newest planted seedlings so I can continue to see them bloom.

oh, awesome, I am going to try it sometime. I picked up some shot glasses at a yard sale for 10 cents yesterday, yay!