Why the Flowered Taxi Cabs?

What's the deal with the Taxi Cabs with flowered hoods? I have been wondering what was going on with so many cabs with the brightly colored front and back hoods. They are even on Roosevelt Island.
The New York Sun provides the answer behind the "Garden in Transit".

The brothers behind the painted flowers dotting yellow cabs throughout the city are not quite Christo and Jeanne-Claude. But since the public phase of their art initiative started 12 days ago, the two middle-age California natives, Ed and Bernie Massey, have seen their art project burgeon, with between 2,500 and 3,000 taxis being adorned with a painted flower skin.

Their nonprofit project, "Garden in Transit," was conceived in 2000, with a goal of placing unique pieces of art on one of the most visible icons of New York: the yellow cab. About 27,000 vinyl sheets of flowers were painted by children in schools and hospitals, mostly in New York, beginning in 2006, with each meant to be affixed — temporarily — to taxis that requested some floral sprucing up.

The privately funded project is tied to the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the metered, motorized taxi in the city.

It almost makes you forget the problems with getting a cab to go to Roosevelt Island. Almost, but not quite.