History
In 2010, the Environmental Education Department kicked off the Daffodils for Schools program. The program offered 40 daffodil bulbs to any school organization willing to plant them on school grounds – all to celebration the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day. Since 2010, nearly 50 public and private schools have planted more than 5,000 bulbs at campuses all over the city.

The program was inspired by finding the daffodils on sale and then reading the Daffodil Principle. The Daffodil is the story of Alma Gene Bauer who gave California a remarkable legacy when she started planting daffodils in 1957. Over more than 50 years, she planted one million daffodil bulbs along an obscure mountainside, one bulb at a time. Despite the 1999 forest fires that ravaged the site and destroyed Ms. Bauer's home and surrounding garden and trees, the daffodils continue to bloom every year, reminding everyone who sees it how beautiful and steadfast nature can be.

Partnership with the Texas Daffodil Society
In 2012 the City of McKinney Environmental Education Department partnered with the Texas Daffodil Society to expand the Daffodils for School program. Many students and parents participated in the Texas Daffodil Society Flower Show held at the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens on March 10, 2012.

These were the winning entries from parents and students at McGowan and Sonntag Elementary schools!

We received dozens of photos from all of the schools. Visit the City of McKinney Facebook page to view.