About the Daffodil Project

New Yorkers for Parks’ Daffodil Project is the largest annual volunteer effort in NYC history, conceived as a living memorial to the victims of September 11. Since the Daffodil Project’s inception in 2002, over nine million daffodil bulbs have been distributed for free, planted by thousands of volunteers in the fall, and celebrated as some of the first flowers to bloom come spring. 

In the aftermath of 9/11, Dutch bulb supplier Hans van Waardenburg and the City of Rotterdam sent NYC a million daffodils – a gift facilitated by NY4P Board Member and public garden designer Lynden Miller. That fall, 10,000 volunteers joined NY4P and then-Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe to plant the bulbs in every borough. In 2007, Mayor Bloomberg named the daffodil the city’s official flower. 

Throughout twenty years of bulb distributions, plantings, and perennial blooms, the Daffodil Project’s mission has grown. Today, the project serves as a catalyst for citywide parks stewardship and civic engagement advancing NY4P’s call for 1% of the city budget to be allocated for NYC Parks, a celebration of the New Yorkers championing parks equity and resilience in their communities, and a memorial for the lives lost during the Covid-19 pandemic.  

Visit www.ny4p.org to learn more about the Daffodil Project and New Yorkers for Parks.