Generally Speaking: Hydrangea: The official flower of Bay Ridge
As cherry and apple blossoms start to bloom throughout the area, wouldn’t it be a good time to consider planting or cultivating Bay Ridge’s official floral emblem, the hydrangea?
Actually, very few communities have a flower that has been designated formally as their very own. On Nov. 20, 1986, President Ronald Reagan signed a proclamation certifying the rose as the national floral emblem. However, long before that time, in 1891, schoolchildren in New York State participated in a state-sponsored poll with their winning choice, the rose. Nonetheless, it took the state Legislature until 1955 to pass a measure adopting the rose as the state flower, declaring, “The rose shall be the official flower of the state in any color or combination of colors common to it.”
Prior to Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration, the rose was also known as Gotham’s official flower. That changed when Bloomberg signed a proclamation on April 20, 2007 giving official status to the daffodil. Since the horrendous attacks on the World Trade Center, the daffodil has become the flower of choice at many 9/11 memorial tributes.