When you're celebrating a 125th anniversary, you go big. That's exactly what the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) will do when its sesquicentennial takes place in 2016. To honor the monumental occasion, one million daffodils are being plant on (where else?) the garden's Daffodil Hill.
One million - let's just take a moment for that to sink in.
That's twice the amount of flowers that Dior used to cover the Louvre, and hundreds of thousands more than most of us plant in an entire lifetime.
Such a massive undertaking requires a great deal of man power. Aside from the garden's horticulturists, longtime members, local community groups, and even a class of fourth graders have volunteered their time to the effort, being called the Daffodil Initiative.
NYBG's president, Gregory Long, has also enlisted the help of Brent Heath, America's leading daffodil expert, to join in the planting, which kicks off November 6, as 150,000 bulbs get put in the ground.
But it won't be all manual labor, a special bulb-planting machine has been brought in from Holland to help complete the daunting task. The finished project will feature nine different daffodil cultivars, such as the all-white Thalia and the golden yellow Saint Keverne, as well as existing daffodils first planted in the 1920s.
Come April, the daffodils will bloom on the hillside, serving as a reminder of NYBG's unique history. And it will be a true feast for the eyes, with beautiful yellow and white narcissus flowers blanketing Daffodil Hill for all to enjoy.
