The Victoria man behind the Ukrainian “flag of flowers” is preparing to give away more than 7,000 potted flowers for free as the display is taken apart.
The flower flag — a living 10-by-30-metre flag set up in Beacon Hill Park — was the brainchild of Sahasi Erven and was created starting July 15 as a tribute to Ukraine. He aimed to collect up to 100,000 donated flower pots to assemble the flag.
“It wasn’t the largest in the world — our original goal — but we can say that it was the largest flag of flowers in the Western Hemisphere,” Erven said. “But it was still large enough to inspire and give joy.”
To create a flag in the colours of Ukraine, he assembled more than 7,000 potted marigolds, petunias, dahlias, mums and lobelias.
The heat-loving plants have survived under the hot sun with only one watering a day because of a layer of peat moss they sat on — a trick Erven learned when he was a professional gardener.
The giveaway starts at 9 a.m. Friday at the Beacon Hill Park playing field (off of Douglas Street, north of Mile Zero).
Erven will be there until dusk Friday or until all of the flowers are gone. In the event they don’t all find new homes on Friday, he will be at the same location on Saturday morning.
He is not accepting donations and suggests people donate to their own favourite charity instead.
“The flag of flowers is a flag of love,” he said. “I hope people use the flowers to make their own mini versions of the Ukrainian flag and help spread the love the flowers represent.”
