Like many people around the world, Victoria’s Sahasi Erven was horrified by the images coming out of Ukraine.
“Everyday I wake up and see the papers and news and I shake my head like this is crazy madness again,” says Erven.
So to spread some joy and show his support for Ukraine, Erven and his neighbours set about creating a Ukrainian flag out of flowers with 500 plants.
“I just had this vision of let’s do a flag of flowers, so we did the flag of flowers,” says Erven. “People do come by and they love it, it gives them joy.”
The popularity of the garden got Erven thinking about taking his flag creation to the next level. So he began making plans to tackle a world record for the largest flag made from flowers.
The only problem? There weren’t enough blue and yellow flowers on the island.
“We went to find flowers and the guy said ‘well you’re not going to find any flowers this time of year, not blue,’ and in fact I did actually kind of say forget about it,” says Erven.
But Erven hasn’t given up. Instead he’s putting the call out to gardeners across B.C. to grow the necessary 100,000 planters.
“That’s the tentative goal so that people and children, schools, parks departments….can start growing the plants so that we can come together,” says Erven.
If all goes to plan the flag will be assembled on June 20 at George Jay School, with Erven hoping the attempt will help spread love in a time of tragedy.
“The physical manifestation will be beautiful, but that inner quality that we work together to create something beautiful will be what we want to present to the world,” says Erven.
To get involved with the record attempt, visit the Flag of Flowers website.
Cole Sorenson
