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“Let me understand you, Mrs. Lasker. Do you want to out up our beautiful green park with colored flowers?” and I said, “Yes, I certainly do.” Well, this was the attitude of the Park Department, but Bob Moses, when he heard this unfavorable remark on the part of Gilmore Clark, his specialist in landscaping, was quite impressed and didn't let me plant any more colored flowers in Central Park. So, I got after him about Park Avenue.

Well, his experts said that tulips would not live above Grand Central, that the smoke and soot from the fumes of the automobiles would be bad for them and this could not be done. Well, I said that I'd like to do a test planting anyway, and would they mind if I gave them the money to do this. “Well,” they said, “you waste your money the way you want to, and we'll try it if you really insist.”

So, I gave them the money to plant four blocks with Holland tulips in 1956, I think. They came up superbly and looked absolutely marvelous. So, I said, “Now, you see, the tulips do do well on Park Avenue, even above Grand Central, and I will now give you the money for 20 blocks: every other block tulips and in the other blocks white daffodils.” They were horrified by this because, of course, they still hated flowers, but they accepted the money and the flowers actually got planted, and the spring of '57 was absolutely glorious! In fact, it was superb, and I was entranced by the beauty of it.

Was there any official reaction?