by Nancy Stedman
Robert Welsch, owner of Westover Landscape Design, enjoys a field of daffodils.
Each April, our area is awash with over 200,000 daffodils, some yellow, some white, some pink—and all gorgeous. You see them when you walk by the visitor’s center at the Rockefeller State Preserve, drive on Neperan Road, hike near the O’Hara Nature Center, enter Warner Library or travel pretty much anywhere local. This spring pageant isn’t an accident: It stems from the continuing efforts of long-time Tarrytown resident Robert Welsch, owner of Westover Landscape Design, to beautify our region. “Daffodils brighten everyone’s day, especially after a long, gloomy winter,” Welsch said.
The Daffodil Project began in the fall of 2006, when Welsch and Susan Sincero, head of the Tarrytown Beautification Foundation, joined forces to bring these trumpet-shaped spring blooms to the village as well as to raise money for the Foundation. Daffodils were perfect, Welsch explained, because they are “tough as nails and get bigger and better each year.”
For the first installation, about 30 children and adults, including Tarrytown Mayor Drew Fixell, planted more than 10,000 daffodil (also known as narcissus) bulbs throughout the village. The Westover Landscape crew did the heavy lifting by digging hundreds of two- to three-foot wide holes in the ground. Volunteers dropped in 12 to 20 daffodil bulbs and covered them with soil. Then kids of all ages got to jump up and down on the planting holes. The initial event “was a huge hit,” recalled Sincero. “It was a feel-good kind of thing.”
Each fall since then, Welsch has partnered with two or three community organizations to plant more narcissus in the local area. His biggest project so far took place at Rockwood Hall, part of the Rockefeller State Park Preserve. Research done by Westover staffers suggested that during William Rockefeller’s time, a hill below the former mansion had been covered with daffodils in the spring.
“Daffodils were in vogue with the big estates of the Rivertowns, and the great families had a friendly sense of competition about their plantings,” Welsch said. Over the course of five or six years, Westover filled what it calls “Daffodil Hill” with 40,000 bulbs, some of them similar to what might have been planted during the estate’s heyday. Often the landscape crew was assisted by volunteers from Friends of the Rockefeller State Park Preserve.
“The hill is pretty spectacular in bloom,” said Clare Pierson, president of the Friends organization. She added, “Robert is a very, very giving individual and we’re grateful for what he’s done over the years.”
Sweeps of daffodils delight passersby, but the plantings also benefit those who help make them happen. “Any time you have a group effort, it really gives a great sense of community,” Pierson said. “It’s very uplifting, because we’re all working towards something together; you’re outside on a beautiful day, you’re feeling centered in your body, and you’re in good company.”
Ninth-grader Max Cover, who took part in the daffodil installation two years ago at the Peabody Preserve Outdoor Classroom, concurred. “It was a day to remember,” he said. “You felt as if you were helping contribute something to this new space.” The Outdoor Classroom was cofounded by his mother Katie Scully about four years ago.
Part of the appeal of the daffodil drifts is that, barring a seriously wet or cold winter, the plants return season after season. That’s something appreciated by eight-year-old Madeleine Galloway, who participated in a BUDS planting program at Neperan Park a few years ago. “I really like seeing the daffodils every year. Yellow is a pretty color and bright after the winter,” she said. Added her mother, Fiona Galloway, “When you are small–or any size, really–it is nice to see your efforts have such a large-scale effect. The daffodils certainly make Madeleine smile.” In fact, Madeleine has been so taken with the spring-flowering bulbs that she’s planted some in her family’s garden.
The Daffodil Project contributes to the beauty of the Rivertowns and imparts a sense of community. “I feel like we kick-started something with our initial planting—we boosted everyone’s morale,” said Susan Sincero. Or, as Welsch likes to say, “It’s a virtuous cycle.”