The neatly manicured three acres surrounding Richard Lambert’s home abound with color &045; annuals, perennials and shrubs that would make any gardener proud.

What is different about the large flower beds scattered throughout Lambert’s yard is the profusion of daylilies &045; all colors, all types and dominating with their pert blossoms.

&uot;See that double yellow staring at you,&uot; Lambert said, as he walked slowly from bed to bed describing the daylilies. &uot;It is just staring at you and saying, ‘look at me.’&uot;

How can he have a favorite among the more than 250 named varieties and another 500 seedlings? He cannot, Lambert said. &uot;When someone asks me that, I say, that one, that one, that one and that one,&uot; he said, pointing to different flowers to show that all are his favorites.

However, he does particularly like the daylilies with eyes and frilly edges. He selected one to demonstrate. &uot;This one has yellow throat, a pinkish petal and a dark pink eye,&uot; he said.

Lambert and his wife, Sherri, have lived in their country home since the early 1990s. Sherri helps in the garden, but it is her sister, Becki Smith, who partners with Richard to travel to nurseries to find new daylilies.

&uot;Sherri is what we call the chief weed technician,&uot; Richard said. &uot;Becki and I started talking about daylilies after I lost all my roses in an ice storm.&uot;

Instead of replacing the roses, he decided to try daylilies. His passion grew right along with the large beds he filled with new plants each year.

&uot;The daylily is low maintenance. It is disease resistant and drought resistant,&uot; he said. &uot;You can get rust or aphids in the early spring, but those are easy to treat.&uot;

As he continued to add to his collection with flowers bearing names such as &uot;Walking in Sunshine,&uot; &uot;Volcanic Explosion,&uot; &uot;Rainbow Eyes,&uot; &uot;Fire Power&uot; and &uot;Totally Awesome,&uot; his interest in hybridization grew, as well.

&uot;I just started getting into that, crossing daylilies to get a new daylily,&uot; Lambert said.

He showed how he waits until a stamen opens to reveal the pollen. &uot;You take the stamen off and take it to another flower and apply the pollen to the tip of the pistil,&uot; he said. &uot;You wait for a seed pod to form, let it mature and turn brown and then you get the seeds out and let them dry before you plant them in the fall.&uot;

Lambert said one advantage of the daylily is that a beginning gardener can have success with the flower. &uot;Anybody who doesn’t have a green thumb can grow a daylily. They don’t require much attention.&uot;

He throws a little 13-13-13 fertilizer on them and separates them about every three years. There are early bloomers, mid bloomers and late bloomers; so daylilies can bloom in a garden throughout the summer.

Richard, who works at Cable One, said gardening held no interest for him as he was growing up. &uot;Now you can’t keep me out of the flower beds,&uot; he said. &uot;It’s addictive. I just want more and more. But I haven’t heard of anybody dying of it yet.&uot;

Sherri encourages her husband and sister in their love of daylilies and likes the idea that one day there may be a business spawned from the hobby.

&uot;We find out more and more as we go on that the best source of daylilies is other growers. We are finding out what they do and what to look for,&uot; Richard said.

He looked around the yard as he talked about the possibility of selling daylilies. Whether he goes into the business remains to be seen. But the yard and flowers will keep him outdoors when he has free time, he said.

&uot;There is always a blade of grass to cut, a weed to pull and a stick to pick up.&uot;