TAYLORVILLE - Imagine 600 varieties of daylilies stretching 800 feet.

The Taylorville Garden Walk, "Legends and Lace," on Saturday, June 21, will showcase Bob Ellis's double wide "Lilies of the Field" converted pasture, the result of more than eight years of effort.

Located in rural Taylorville, 1326 N. 1900 East Road, the garden will be open for touring from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Visitors will be able to dig up fans of the daylilies for $4.

The garden is framed by native redbud trees and a picket fence spliced with brick towers. "It's stunning," marveled Billie Johnson of the Taylorville Tourism Council, the garden walk sponsor.

It's a tribute to Sandy Ellis, whose death last year inspired her husband to continue her legacy and share the blooms with visitors. "Her lilies look like a thousand calico cats bobbing in the breeze," Bob Ellis said. The daylilies usually bloom from mid-June through July.

In addition to the daylilies, the garden includes many varieties of colorful flowers, a weeping cherry tree, a magnolia tree, a metal gazebo and a rustic outbuilding, "I never get tired of looking at it," said Bob Ellis, a retired brick mason.

One of the stones in a walkway is inscribed, "One who plants a garden plants happiness." A longtime antique dealer, Sandy Ellis became fascinated with the propagation and hybridizing of daylilies. She shipped fans of the distinctive blooms nationwide.

The garden tour also includes sites in Stonington and Owaneco:

Don Brown, 1304 W. Franklin St. A high-profile vegetable garden. On display will be a chariot from the Christian County Year 2000 Celebration and Brown's antique engines dating to the late 1890s. Twin brothers Donald and Ronald Brown will demonstrate the gas engines.

Buckley Growers, 1481 N. 930 East Road. A green business with energy captured at the neighboring waste management site powering the greenhouse's heating system. Each visitor receives a plant.

City Garden at Christian County Farm Bureau, 400 W. Market St. See antique tractors on display and visit with historian Alan Bower about his forthcoming book, "The Last Stop: Lincoln in Christian County." A farmhouse lunch will be served from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Garden of Dick and Wanda Evey, 412 Maple St., Stonington. Flower beds outlined with river rock, trellises loaded with perennials and a quarry rock water feature.

Patio Gardens at Hickory Estates, 1091 E. 1500 North Road. Designed around a courtyard, residents in bordering apartments have used container planting techniques to add color. The elegant dining room is the site of the Legends and Lace tea.

Garden of Stacie Hutchens, 108 S. Church St., Owaneco. Exotic perennials in stone-trimmed beds, flagstone patios and a terraced waterfall. A five-year project.

Bob Fallstrom can be reached at bfallstrom@herald-review.com or 421-7981.

If you go

Admission: Adults $8. Children age 12 and under free with an adult.

Advance tickets: Cottage Rose Gifts and Crafts, Taylorville; Junction Garden Center and News-Palladium, Pana; Red Rooster Inn, Hillsboro; Ishmael Insurance Services, Nokomis. On walk day, tickets will be on sale at all tour gardens.

Contests: "The Way You Wear Your Hat;" flower arranging and "Chalk Your Choice," artists depicting presidential candidates, past and present.

Vendors: Garden art, sculptures and plants.

Proceeds: Designated for tourism promotion, including restoration of the 1902 Christian County Courthouse and Christian County's 175th birthday in 2014.

Information: 824-9447.

Ticket holders are eligible for door prizes.