Shannon Robbins, a landscape designer who has lived in Bonny Doon for two decades, said her house was the only one in her immediate, ridge-top neighborhood still standing after the fires. She planted daffodils in her garden and helped her neighbors do the same.
“I think because the fire knocked us down at our knees, most people just needed something for hope,” she said.
Although there was widespread support for the uplifting project, some members of the community would have preferred a native California species over the non-native daffodils.
Karen Holl, an ecologist from nearby University of California Santa Cruz, weighed in that a species like California poppies would have been her first choice, though daffodils are not listed on the California Invasive Plant Council’s problem invasives list. “Daffodils should be confined to gardens,” Holl said.
Daffodils bloom at the entrance of Bonny Doon Elementary School on March 11, 2025. (Gina Castro/KQED)
Robbins understood the ecological concern, but she said she had not seen the daffodils spreading. She actually planned to remind her neighbors to give them some fertilizer so they don’t disappear.
“Now, when you drive by, you see these little, tiny random clusters of daffodils, and it’s like, ‘Oh yeah,’” Robbins said. “It’s cheery.”
