Montclair’s Tulip Maestro Will Plant 1,500 Bulbs This Year

MONTCLAIR, NJ — Move over, Johnny Appleseed… you don’t have anything on Montclair’s Peter Guiffra.

As part of local organization May In Montclair’s annual effort to beautify the township with a massive tulip planting, Guiffra will be planting more than 1,500 bulbs in time for a “spring bloom explosion,” organizers say.

For 38 years, May in Montclair volunteers - including Guiffra – have distributed free tulip bulbs throughout town to local park conservancies, gardening clubs, houses of worship, schools, libraries, the municipal parks department and local business districts. Park conservancy members, school groups and countless community volunteers then commence an annual effort to ensure the bulbs get planted so that visitors and residents can enjoy them in the spring.

This year will mark more than two decades in the tulip game for Guiffra, who first got involved in the May In Montclair effort in 1991.

“That first year [Guiffra] created three tulip beds on Chestnut Street,” May In Montclair Chair Karen Shinevar told Patch. “Now he has multiple places where he plants bulbs at MHS.”

Guiffra has also planted at the David Greenwald Memorial, the MHS atrium facing Park Street, the town’s 9/11 memorial and the Kay Edwards Garden in Watchung Plaza.

What’s Guiffra’s secret for his tulip planting success? Bone meal as fertilizer... and a love for his hometown.

“I am blessed to be born, raised and to live in Montclair,” Guiffra said.

MAY IN MONTCLAIR

Each year the May In Montclair committee publishes a “Calendar of Events” and distributes 10,000 books throughout Montclair showcasing local events happening in May and listing local businesses, organizations and friends whose support keeps the project alive. Local artists can submit art to adorn the book’s cover by contacting volunteer Donna Lehner at dlehner@lehnerwhyte.com. Submissions are due by Dec. 15, 2016.

People interested in donating to the May In Montclair effort can visit www.mayinmontclair.org or mail them to May in Montclair, 41 Watchung Plaza, #308, Montclair, NJ 07042. Checks should be made out to “May in Montclair.”

For more information about the group’s annual distribution and planting of the tulip bulbs, email Karen Shinevar at karenshinevar@gmail.com.

Photo: Karen Shinevar

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