What Is the Southern Michigan Daylily Society and How Can You Join?

The Southern Michigan Daylily Society (SMDS) is an educational, social, and scientific society that promotes daylily (Hemerocallis) propagation and good earth stewardship through gardening. It is based in southern Michigan and affiliated with the American Hemerocallis Society (AHS), according to its website. If you are a daylily grower, hybridizer, or general gardening enthusiast in the region, you can attend a meeting as a guest (with a reservation) or join as a member through the "Join SMDS" section of the site.

What SMDS Is and Who It's For

SMDS describes itself as a club built around three purposes:

• Educational — sharing knowledge about daylilies and gardening practices
• Social — bringing growers together at meetings and events
• Scientific — supporting daylily propagation and, for some members, hybridizing

The society's site includes sections for hybridizers, a newsletter, and tips on exhibiting daylilies, which suggests it serves both casual gardeners and more serious growers who show or breed plants. If your interest is simply learning how to grow a daylily, the club's educational focus fits; if you already hybridize, the hybridizer resources and member network are the draw.

How Meetings and Events Work

The club holds meetings and events where members "share and learn about Daylilies (Hemerocallis) and good earth stewardship through gardening." Key practical points from the site:

• Guests are welcome at all upcoming meetings, but a reservation is needed.
• To reserve a spot, contact the club by email at the address listed on the site.
• Details for each event are posted under the "Calendar of Events" tab.

So the sequence for a first visit is: check the Calendar of Events, then email the club to reserve your place before attending.

How to Join

The site directs prospective members to the "Join SMDS" tab for information about becoming a member. The homepage itself does not list dues, membership tiers, or a signup form, so those specifics have to come from that page or from contacting the club directly.

Current officers listed for 2026 are:

The club's contact email is published on the site and is the route for both meeting reservations and membership questions.

Member Discount: Kincaid Garden Markers

One concrete member benefit mentioned on the site is a rewards program with Kincaid Garden Markers. Under the program as described:

• Members ordering plant markers from kincaidplantmarkers.com can receive a discount at checkout by entering the rewards code assigned to the club: DAY-SMDS.
• The site states the member discount was doubled to $1.00 for each bundle of 25 plant markers ordered.
• The code must be used during the checkout process on the Kincaid website.

Note that this program notice carries an update date of 03/23/2023, and the site says the program "is being revised," so confirm the current terms with the club or at checkout before relying on the discount amount.

What to Do Next

1. Open the SMDS site and go to Calendar of Events to find the next meeting.
2. Email the club contact address to reserve your guest spot.
3. If you want to join, check the Join SMDS tab for membership information, or ask about it in your email.
4. If you order plant markers, apply the DAY-SMDS code at Kincaid checkout and verify the discount that appears.

The main open questions the homepage doesn't answer are membership cost and meeting frequency — both are best confirmed directly with the club, since only the calendar and the join page carry those details.