Thinking spring on the first day of winter

Thousands of daffodils will blossom in Grangebel Park this spring thanks to local volunteers who planted 5,000 bulbs throughout the park on Saturday.

“We couldn’t have asked for a better day,” Mary Ellen Ellwood, a member of Riverhead Townscape’s board of directors said of the unusually balmy weather on the first day of winter.

The bulbs were paid for with proceeds from the Riverhead Country Fair in October, which the organization holds each year to raise funds for its beautification projects. This year netted more than $10,000, Ellwood said.

Jim Warner of Warner Nursery in Calverton purchased the daffodil bulbs for the group. This is the fourth large-scale daffodil planting undertaken by Riverhead Townscape, which has decorated the side of Route 25 near the Long Island Expressway, the Roanoke Avenue traffic circle and the area beneath 100 trees they planted along Sound Avenue between Doctor’s Path and Northville Turnpike.

Ellwood said daffodils are chosen because they are perennial and they are some of the first to appear when the weather warms.

“They kind of signify the beginning of spring, so it’s neat to see them start to pop because it means spring is here,” she said.

Riverhead Townscape volunteers received help from River and Roots Community Garden members and Boy Scout Troop 242. The Scouts who participated were Matthew Lacombe, Connor Holohan and Morgan Card-Gimpleman.

RiverheadLOCAL photos by Peter Blasl
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