The Daffodil Project 


The Daffodil Project was founded in 2001 as a living memorial to September 11. With nearly five million free bulbs planted citywide by more than 40,000 school kids, parks and gardening groups, civic organizations, corporate volunteers and other New Yorkers, it is one of the largest volunteer efforts in the city’s history.

Like most New Yorkers in the fall of 2001, NY4P Chair Emeritus Lynden Miller was grieving in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks when she received a fax from Hans van Waardenburg, a Dutch bulb supplier.

"He had written, 'I feel so distressed and heartbroken for New York. New York and my country have had a long relationship going back to New Amsterdam. ... I just wish there was something I could do,' " Miller told the New York Daily News in 2011.

"And I sent back, 'Hans, you don't have any extra bulbs, do you?' "

Around the same time, Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe had a similar idea:  planting yellow daffodils – the color of remembrance – across the city. The three formed a partnership with the Dutch government, and the Daffodil Project was born.

The following fall, more than 10,000 volunteers joined NY4P to initiate the Project. In 2007, Mayor Bloomberg named the daffodil the city’s official flower in recognition of the millions of daffodils that had bloomed every spring since 2001. Today, the initiative remains a powerful memorial to the victims of the September 11 attacks, and its spirit is defined by the thousands of New Yorkers who join together to make their neighborhoods, and their city, a more beautiful place to live.

The Daffodil Project wouldn’t be possible without the ongoing sponsorship of Con Edison, Ernst & Young and the New York City Council, or the hard work of thousands of volunteers who plant bulbs in parks and public spaces every fall. If you'd like to be part of an initiative that truly touches the lives of New Yorkers in all corners of the city, please join us:

To find out more about becoming a Corporate Sponsor, please contact our Director of Development, Evelyn Chen: 212-838-9410, ext. 310, or echen@ny4p.org.

To join the Bulb Brigade, our corps of volunteer planters, click here.