In 2022, the Garden Club celebrated 100 years with a keen focus on the continued mass planting of daffodils.
In October 2020, the Ithaca Garden Club made an extraordinary gift to the City of Ithaca, with the planting of 12,000 narcissi and over 5,000 muscari and crocus. Located along Taughannock Boulevard, just north of the Ithaca Children’s Garden, this daffodil planting creates a beautiful naturalizing splash of color for all passersby to enjoy for many springs to come. 40,000 more bulbs planted on October 4, 2023 brings the grand total to an impressive 130,000 daffodil bulbs!
The daffodils, combined with the multi-year planting of crabapple trees along Floral Avenue at the Inlet, enhance the Ithaca Garden Club’s “Garden Trail”, and are a part of the Club’s on-going gifts to the City as we celebrate a century of educating and fostering interest in horticulture, flower arranging and landscaping.
Some Background on the Daffodil Planting Dr. Bill Miller, Cornell University Professor of Horticulture and Research Director of Horticulture Section, School of Integrative Plant Science guided this daffodil project – one of many in his career of naturalizing bulbs – using an unique planting machine given to Cornell’s College of Agriculture by the Dutch bulb company, A. Geerlings. The planter slices open the sod, drops in the bulbs and then replaces the sod over them. During a demonstration for his students, 8,000 bulbs were planted in 11 minutes, which is weeks ahead of what either the students or Club members could have done by hand!
Club members, who turned out to watch and assist on the initial planting day, received a lesson in efficient bulb planting from Dr. Miller – “some people might be concerned about the lack of precise placement of the bulbs… actually, most bulbs are forgiving about how deep they are planted, despite what you might see on the labels. They also do fine if not planted right side up” which is a relief to hear!
If interested, there are two ways to contribute funding to Daff-a-Dazzle: by check or by the link below. If you are sending a check, please make your check out to "Daff-a-Dazzle" and mail to: