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Field Guide to Boston
How daffodils became a Boston Marathon tradition
After the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013, Diane Valle had an idea: Plant 100,000 daffodils along the route as a way to bring spectators back to the sidelines.
With help from local gardening organizations, volunteers and donors, Valle beat that goal. The group planted more than 130,000 daffodils between Hopkinton and Boston, with others placed along the finish line.
Now in its 11th year, the nonprofit Valle leads, Marathon Daffodils has secured the bright yellow flower as a symbol of the marathon and tradition for Boston and surrounding communities.
"It's a citywide event to celebrate spring, to pay tribute to Boston Strong," said Valle. "And it's an act of remembrance of the people who lost their lives and that were injured, and for those who came to their aid."
Each October, the nonprofit plants 25,000 Dutch Master daffodil bulbs imported from Holland and stores in a cooler at Olson’s Greenhouses in Raynham, according to the Marathon Daffodils website. The flowers are taken out of their winter home in April and loaded onto trucks. Volunteers collect about an additional 5,000 plants grown and donated from businesses and residents around Boston. They're then placed along the 26.2-mile route ahead of the marathon.
"We distribute the daffodils on the morning of Friday, so that when the runners appear, Boston is bright and alive and looking pretty," said Valle.
When the marathon is all said and done, the flowers are planted along the Charles River, which now plays host to a sea of daffodils which bloom year after year. Some flowers are also planted along the marathon route, and Valle said runners now use them as a visual marker for marathon prep.
"The runners tell us that when they are training for the marathon, they see the daffodils poke through the ground and then turn into a little green pencil that comes out of the ground and then start to bud," she said. "And they know by the time the color is on the bloom of the daffodils, that they better be ready to run in the marathon."
