Planting 22,000 bulbs for spring 2021

In December 2020, the Gramercy Park Block Association reported that more than 22,000 bulbs had been planted for the coming spring. During a year of emergency support and disrupted routines, the work offered a longer horizon: flowers that would appear after winter.

The letter described the Block Association providing administrative services under the direct supervision of the Park Trustees. Bulb planting sat alongside seasonal cleanup, tree care and recovery from Tropical Storm Isaias. Caretaker Amando Flores and project manager Kathleen Scupp were central to the planning and tending of the landscape.

April · The planting comes into view

The April 15, 2021 follow-up reported those bulbs blooming in the Park and the surrounding tree gardens. Its illustrated guide located daffodils in the 41 perimeter gardens, the northwest and southeast quadrants, and the Gramercy Park North planters.

That spring, tulips appeared at the south gate, in the One Lexington Avenue tree gardens and in the northwest urn. The photographs also showed bluebells, snowdrops, Japanese kerria, the weeping cherry at the north gate and magnolias inside the Park.

The seasonal work continued. In May, the newsletter reported begonias arriving for the 41 tree gardens. Spring bulbs and summer flowers belonged to the same ongoing cycle of care.