Are you home during the day??? The lotus blossom opens mid morning, and is
only open for a few hours, so it is closed by mid afternoon. If you are not
home, you will not see it bloom. From your description, it is opening, and
you are just not there to see the bloom. The petals don't usually show up
until they are ready to open, the first day they only partially open, the
second day they are fully open, and the third day they open and drop the
petals.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html


"Lorraine Lawler" wrote in message
...
We have our lotus in a bog separate from the pond and this is the
first time we're developed buds (second summer for plant). The buds
get large and develop petals but before it actually opens, the petals
fall off. We have three buds and this has happened on two of them.
The third one is still too small yet. We live in NW Indiana (zone 5)
and we haven't had any harsh weather around the time this occurred (no
strong winds or rain and no hail). We're so disappointed since we
were looking forward all season to spectacular flowers. Any advice?
Thanks.