Irregardless, The Daffodils Bloom 🌼
Hi Bestie!!
Sending last week's month's newsletter was well-timed, but not planned to coincide with a mass protest. Thank you to everyone who showed up (in the rain!), and an extra thank you to everyone who made a funny sign…at any variety of protests. Do not listen to people online: the April 5 demonstrations were covered on local, national, and cable news. Garrett Bucks has more to say about the day…which was over a month ago. Also, What if you were the person for whom somebody else was waiting?
I would like to encourage you, again, to heckle the people in power. You cannot underestimate the power of a good heckle, especially between two grown white people. You're in a municipal building and ICE is, too? Let out a clear, loud, "EW." What are they going to do to a White, middle-aged woman? Is anything more devastating than a White middle-aged woman than EW? (NO. I accomplish so much more with EW than "MOVE.") I wrote that before Homeland Security arrested the mayor of Newark. The nazis are already here and in power!Â
And yet, the flowers continue to bloom. The daffodils do not wait.
The first sign of spring in New York City is the presence of daffodils. They sprout from tree pits in Manhattan, and I fret, "Won't it snow next week and kill all the bulbs?"
Well, it didn't snow very much in New York City this year. We've had some cold snaps after the daffodils bloomed and moved on, though. (The important thing, I suppose, is that the ground didn't thaw too early, kill off the new shoots, and leave us without spring blossoms.) First, the stalks and leaves appear, and then, the buds, draped in a thin, crepe layer. They burst forth, like trumpets, a butter-colored awareness of hope in lawns and yards, in sidewalk rain gardens, in a big welcoming ring around a tree at Westbrook (I planted those, and the tulips, too), and tree pits all over the boroughs.
I found myself looking for them in Gramercy in 2020, when there was so little to look forward to.Â
One of the buildings on Eastern Parkway has a smattering of tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths, and I think they're all volunteers. Did someone lose bulbs from an illicit fire escape garden? Do my purple hyacinths still bloom in the rose garden on President Street, deposited in the same, tragic way?Â
Many of the daffodils in New York City were planted by volunteers. New Yorkers for Parks (N4P) runs The Daffodil Project. Last year, N4P distributed 500 thousand bulbs and native seed packets to New Yorkers, who planted them in community gardens, window boxes, and tree pits. The Daffodil Project is the city's largest volunteer effort. It was founded in 2001 and began distribution in 2002.
Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, Hans van Waardenburg and the City of Rotterdam sent New York City one million daffodils. That fall 10,000 volunteers planted bulbs in every borough. (A month after 9/11, based on an April 2002 NYT article about the blooming.)Â
The project also honors "the victims of the COVID-19 pandemic and acts as a catalyst for citywide parks stewardship and civic engagement."
In 2007, Mayor Bloomberg named the daffodil New York City's official flower. The daffodil joins the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, Pizza Rat, and the Unisphere. My apologies to the Unisphere, but Tre Cool climbed the Universal Globe in 1998, and I can hardly see the difference.
The daffodil is a member of the amaryllis family, which includes the narcissus (of Greek myth fame). The family boasts thousands of cultivars, which have been grown for centuries for ornamental display. The bulbs grow roots in autumn before going dormant after frost.Â
To plant a bulb in the fall is to make an investment in the future, without a guarantee that you will see it. A gardener might plant in a neighborhood they will leave. Or their routine will have shifted come March. And yes, people die. Planting a bulb is a commitment to your time, your future, and your community. It's a gesture to the fleeting time and enjoyment of your neighbors, and I think that's what I like about daffodils most of all. Look at us, it's a blustery March and we braved through the wilds of winter to spring. We said we'd see the blooms in the future and the future is now.
Or, as I like to rant to my mother and my therapist: the most important time is right now.Â
If you want to pick up bulbs this fall for your community, join the mailing list and check your inbox during July and August.
Outside of New York, The Daffodil Project is a Holocaust memorial. They are separate projects. The group aims to plant 1.5 million bulbs around the world. This is also a noble effort!Â
A final note about tree pits. The pits near Manhattan have been filled with pansies. Weve had a mild spring, so I've enjoyed a panoply of pansies for several weeks. "Look at you," I think, "Planted for a few short weeks, and still here!" My heart skips a beat for the joyful, demure pansies. Soft yellow, yellow in the shade of butter turned to ghee (my third favorite shade of yellow, if you wondered), royal violet, the most truthful, honest shade of white. It has rained and rained and rained but they still greet the sky, regardless of its color!
You may also know Newark mayor Ras Baraka as a poet, who recorded interludes in The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill and the intro to The Score by The Fugees.
I've been watching episodes of Bluey at work. Here's a compilation of episodes with Muffin, my favorite chaos goblin. I am very much Bingo (that episode where she acquiesces to everyone? Jesus Christ), but I'd like to be more like Muffin.
The concept of walk-up music was invented by an organist for the White Sox. Please reply to this email with your walk-up song(s). Mine are "like JENNIE" by Jennie and "BKNY" by Fat Tony. I've been listening to a lot of Baltimore Club music at work, so something by Blaqstarr or Mighty Mark is sure to be on the playlist by the end of summer.Â
I'm buying these overalls for summer. Maybe. (There have been TWO sales, and both times I said, "That is too much money, and you own two pairs of workout leggings.") Duluth Trading has very cute floral pajama sets for those interested in living like a modern Marie Antoinette (me). There is also a pair of overalls with geese on them and… I just think that pattern should be available for shorts.Â
I think I may own too much apparel for living in the apartment next door. (I can assure you I have upcycled and donated so much of it already.)Â
If anyone says I look like Super Mario in those overalls, I'll bury them three feet deep.Â
This list of advice made me smile!
I donated 500ish daffodil bulbs to the Franklin Avenue business coalition, but never saw them. If you did, can you let me know?
Always your friend,
Katherine
Bucks, G. (2025a, April 6). Why the protests mattered... Why the protests mattered... - by Garrett Bucks. https://thewhitepages.net/p/why-the-protests-mattered
Bucks, G. (2025b, April 9). Twenty questions for big-hearted, anxious builders (for when principled opposition to Trump is growing, but we're still worried that it won’t be enough)... https://thewhitepages.net/p/twenty-questions-for-big-hearted
The daffodil projectSM. NY4P. (n.d.). https://www.ny4p.org/the-daffodil-project
Home. The Daffodil Project. (2025, February 23). https://www.daffodilproject.net/
NBC New York. (2025, May 10). Newark mayor Ras Baraka released from custody after federal arrest. NBC New York. https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/newark-mayor-ras-baraka-released-from-custody-after-federal-arrest/6259169/
Sole-Smith, V. (2025, May 2). Let Lizzo, and 44 other pieces of good advice. Let Lizzo, and 44 Other Pieces of Good Advice. https://virginiasolesmith.substack.com/p/let-lizzo-and-44-other-pieces-of-advice
Too Loud and Too Old. (2024, February 17). An unreasonable fantasy part II. RSS. https://buttondown.com/KatherineMHill/archive/an-unreasonable-fantasy-part-ii/
Too Loud and Too Old. (2025, April 5). Self care part 3 BB. RSS. https://buttondown.com/KatherineMHill/archive/self-care-part-3-bb/
Wyatt, B. (2025, April 9). Fruitcake in space. Bayou Saint News. https://www.bayousaintcake.news/p/fruitcake-in-space