East Texas Daylily Society
Established May 1990
Disbanded December 31, 2022

The East Texas Daylily Society was established in 1990, through the efforts of Roxanne Fessler, Nell Shimek, and Mickey Sanders. The charter members were Christine Atchison, Roxanne & John Fessler, Finas Gipson, Snooks Harville, Joyce Lewis, and Lucille Wynne. For many years the club met at the Tyler Rose Garden. The club currently meets January-May and October-November at the Tyler Public Library, 201 S. College Ave., Tyler, TX.

The club renovated and established the Edna Lankart Memorial Daylily Beds at the Rose Garden in the Spring of 1991. Edna Lankart and Louis Squyres had originally planted these beds in 1978. In 2001, these beds became an official American Hemerocallis Society Display Garden. The club replaced the daylilies in these beds with more recent cultivars in 2007. The original Edna Lankart Trophy is on display in the Rose Garden Center. The Edna Lankart Award is for the best unregistered seedling displayed in a Regional Meeting Awards Bed, by a Region 6 hybridizer who is not a member of the host club.

The club has traditionally funded scholarships at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, for horticulture students. Education is very important in promoting interest in Hemerocallis, and the club plant sales each year provide support for this effort.

The club is proud to say two well-known hybridizers, Joyce Lewis and Snooks Harville, were members of the club.

Due to decreased membership, the club disbanded December 31, 2022.