It started in 2000, when Heidi Willet noticed another gardener's Stella D 'Oro daylily blooming repeatedly. Willet, already a gardener, wanted to know more.

She joined the Greater Cincinnati Daylily and Hosta Society.

Today, Willet has nearly 700 daylilies in her Finneytown yard and enjoys a fireworks display of colorful blooms in late June and early July. Repeated blooms occur sporadically until frost.

On Sunday during the Cincinnati Flower and Farm Fest at Coney Island, the Cincinnati Horticultural Society will honor Willet and other Greater Cincinnati gardeners with 2003 Amateur Gardener Recognition Awards.

Willet's garden is one of eight that members of the American Hemerocallis Society will tour during the organization's 2005 national convention in Cincinnati.

Other amateur award winners:

• Connie Caton, White Oak, best container display and single genus: hosta.

• Barbara Mueller, Williamsburg, single genus: hydrangea.

• Louise Schomberg, Mariemont, best perennial garden.

• Meriel Hansen, Loveland, best use of decoration in the garden.

• Shirley Koopman, Melbourne, best garden architecture.

• Spiros Sarakatsannis, Jerry Freed and Alex Smith, East Walnut Hills, best water feature.

• Pat Beckman, Colerain Township, best use of sun loving plants.

• Pierre R. Sotteau, Oxford, best woody collection/best theme garden.

• Baker-Hunt Foundation, Covington, best community garden.

• Melody Sawyer Richardson, Hyde Park, judges commendation for best four-season garden.

For more information about the Greater Cincinnati Daylily and Hosta Society, visit www.gcdhs.org or contact Willet at hwillet@cinci.rr.com or 522-6950.