UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — An entire stretch of Park Avenue’s carefully maintained tulip plantings has been stripped of its blooms, leaving behind dozens of headless stems and casting a shadow over the spring display.
Amy Sheldon, the executive director of The Fund for Park Avenue, told Patch that the flowers in two different beds between East 76th and East 77th Streets were all fully decapitated on Monday.
"It is just shocking," Sheldon said. "We had a hard winter, and the tulips were just starting to bloom. They still had about two weeks left in their growth cycle."
Sheldon told Patch that police were notified after a doorman at 850 Park Ave. witnessed the vandalism in progress and called authorities to report the incident.
"It’s a very odd circumstance and very disappointing, but I’m really grateful to the doorman," Sheldon said.
This type of vandalism is a first for The Fund for Park Avenue, which oversees the annual tradition of tulip, begonia and chrysanthemum plantings along the corridor.
The Fund for Park Avenue has been planting tulips every year since 1980 and is funded by donations.
"New Yorkers and visitors love these tulips — they’re a harbinger of spring," Sheldon said. "All of our plantings are done through donations, so these are really the community’s flowers, which is what makes this so upsetting."
The damage, thankfully, is mostly cosmetic, Sheldon said.
The bulbs themselves appear intact, meaning the group’s annual Tulip Dig program — where people can take bulbs home — will still move forward.
"The tulips were red, white, and bluish —really fun and lively — and we’re sorry they’re not there for the neighborhood to enjoy," Sheldon said.
Learn more about The Fund for Park Avenue here.
For questions, email Miranda.Levingston@Patch.com.
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