Although New Yorkers correlate the bloom of beautiful cherry blossoms around the city with the arrival of spring, the official kickoff to the season actually depends on a number of factors – at least according to the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation’s very own spring tracker timeline.
You can access the guide right here, where you will notice that there are a total of 20 spring indicators you need to be aware of. Once one of them is discovered in nature, the image attached to it will have a check mark next to it on the website.
Snowdrops, for example, the beautiful white flowers that emerge from the frozen ground have already been seen in Central Park and Washington Square Park. Woodcocks, also known as “timberdoodles”, also herald the arrival of the season – and they were seen around Bryant Park back in mid-February.
Other signs already witnessed include spots of flowers and trees such as crocus, Shrove Tuesday roses, daffodils, cornelian cherry trees, red maple trees, cherry trees and magnolias.
On the way away from the flora, the department advises looking at Delacorte Clock: the musical gadget switched to its spring playlist on March 2 (a list that includes tracks like “Easter Parade” by Bing Crosby and “It Might As Well be Spring”) .
Another way to monitor the change of seasons is summer time, which just happened last weekend.
Although most of the pictures on the tracker have a tick next to them, nine things still need to happen before New Yorkers can announce with certainty that spring has arrived – and they involve all specific plants and flowers, including the lavender Glory -of- the-Snow flowers, tulips, calamus, eastern red bud, crab apple, flowering dogwood, aaleaer, alium (commonly found in Randall’s Island Park!) and violets.
So go ahead, print out the document and go on a kind of hunt around the city. You may be the very first New Yorker to say that spring has finally arrived – at what point should you add all the best things to do this spring in NYC to your bucket list.
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