The Little Garden Club of Rye's Olmsted200 project came about as a natural merging of our passions for Daffodils, beautifying our town and inspiring a love of gardening in our community.
Each year, we host a Daffodil Show in Spring and recently we have been seeking ways in which to share our love of Daffodils and gardening with our wider community. In Fall 2020 we donated bulbs to hundreds of local school children - some were planted as part of school educational programs and a further 1,500 were planted at home by the children and their families.
In April 2021, we held our first ever Daffodil Day in Rye Town Park. Children brought along one of the daffodil blooms that they had grown to be added to a grand display and they also received young grower awards. Families loved the initiative and we were keen to expand it for April 2022.
In looking for a PARKS project to honor the legacy of Olmsted, we reached out to The Friends of Rye Town Park (FRTP), a local organisation, about how we could help to support and beautify the park. The idea of a mass planting of daffodils was discussed and 'The Big Daff Dig' was born!
Our incredible Chris Duncan led the project, coordinating with volunteers, a local bulb supplier and the Friends of Rye Town Park who were able to underwrite the cost of the daffodils.
On November 13th 2021 LGCR members, youth volunteers and local families came together to hand plant 2,500 bulbs and to watch and marvel as 20,000 bulbs were machine planted in a huge drift. The day was a huge success and all who attended are so excited to see the results in Spring.
This Fall, we have distributed a further 3000 bulbs to local children for them to plant, grow and bring to show on Daffodil Day 2022. We cannot wait to welcome our community back to Rye Town Park again in the Spring, close to Olmsted's actual 200th birthday, to celebrate Daffodils and Spring in our public space with a beautiful backdrop of thousands of Daffodils.
Looking into the future, we hope to continue to build upon our Daffodil Project, adding more bulbs to the park each year and encouraging more members of our community to plant and grow.
