Spring's daffodils take fall's green thumbs

So… you’re packing up your summer whites, disassembling the AC unit, already wistful for the humidity-drenched days of yore. Well, we have a cure for the impending winter blues, and it’s an investment into your not-so-distant future: next spring. Because it’s time to plant some daffodils. Everywhere. The Daffodil Project, a living 9/11 memorial to beautify NYC neighborhoods, is giving out daffodil bulbs, and they need to be planted—by us, by you, by anyone you can grab off the street.

New Yorkers for Parks runs the almost-decade-old initiative, and they line up generous flower suppliers to donate the daffodil bulbs—which must be planted in the fall, by the way, to bloom in early spring. Then it’s up to us, the volunteers, to do the legwork and get the bulbs in the ground.

You can request bulbs via this online form through September 22 and they’ll be distributed in October. Bulbs are free for anyone who commits to rooting them in a public area (here’s a map of some of Brooklyn’s Project daffodil hot-spots from last year). And if you don’t have access to a patch of green, you can get hooked up with local community groups by joining New Yorkers for Parks’ Bulb Brigade.

The dirt under your fingernails won’t last through the winter months, but that warm and fuzzy feeling from making the city look like this sure will. Learn more and request bulbs here.

via Ditmas Park Blog