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It was a botanical bloodbath.
A “disturbed” cane-wielding man decapitated dozens of tulips that famously line Park Avenue during a daylight rampage neighbors said punished the Upper East Side “for its wealth and its beauty.”
The Tulip Terminator’s anger was in full bloom the morning of April 18 when he used a cane to whack away at two separate flower beds between East 76th and East 77th streets, according to Amy Sheldon, the executive director of The Fund for Park Avenue.
“I don’t understand it. I don’t know why somebody would do it,” said Sheldon, whose organization oversees the annual plantings.
“The tulips are just beautiful. They are harmless. They have no impact on anybody other than making them happy and smile. So I can’t imagine why someone would do something like this. He’s obviously a very disturbed person.”
Christian Ortiz, a doorman at 850 Park Avenue, said the vandal, who had a limp and walked with a cane, was wearing what looked like a Yankees shirt and swinging his cane “like a golf club.”
“He started swinging at the flowers and then a few bystanders or any person that basically looked at him – he started yelling slurs at them and just being nasty,” said Ortiz, 33.
After beheading two of the neighborhood’s iconic plots, the man stormed off toward Lexington Avenue, witnesses said.
Ortiz reported the vandalism to the NYPD, but cops were unable to track him down.
The flower vandalism is a first for The Fund, which has planted tulip, begonia and chrysanthemum along the tony corridor every year since 1980.
There have been other similar incidents in the area in recent years, but none have touched the malls that The Fund oversees, noted Sheldon.
This year’s flora included 68,000 red, white and blue tulips stretched from East 54th to East 86th Street in honor of America’s 250th birthday.
“It’s such a shame, only an angry person would do this,” said local Blair Brown-Hoyt, 75. The act of hatred is “punishing Park Ave. for its wealth and its beauty.”
Fortunately, the vandal spared the tulip bulbs, which are underground — meaning the flowers remain viable and will bloom again.
Residents will still be able to take the bulbs home in mid-May as part of The Fund’s annual Tulip Dig Program.
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