Post by murrayc on Jan 10, 2018 6:55:53 GMT
This year marks the centenary of the end of the First World War and wilbarra has come up with a wonderful idea for showing remembrance and for making our site look vibrant with colour. We are asking all allotment holders to grow a little patch of poppies this year, wherever they will go. The front beds of the Community Garden will be planted with poppies this summer.
The death toll for the First World War – “the war to end all wars” – was 18 million. That for the Second World War was over 56 million, and in the almost perpetual global conflicts since 1945 it is estimated that over 51 million more have died.
The poppy came to be chosen as a symbol of remembrance partly because of its association with Flanders and the famous poem by John McCrae “In Flanders fields the poppies grow”. Some associate it with militarism and the celebration of war but the origin was the dreadful loss sustained by almost every household in Britain, in France, in Germany and elsewhere in Europe and the memory of those losses brought home in the poignant symbols of War Memorials that were set up in the years after 1918.
I have found a supplier who offers a discount for multiple packets and Ive already put in an order for 5 packets - that's 1000 seeds. I'll be happy to share some with anyone who would like to grow poppies this year - please pm me here or talk to me on the site (yes, I promise to get there more often now we're past the turn of the year!). If you'd like to order your own the link is www.victoriananursery.co.uk/Flanders_Poppy_Seed/
The death toll for the First World War – “the war to end all wars” – was 18 million. That for the Second World War was over 56 million, and in the almost perpetual global conflicts since 1945 it is estimated that over 51 million more have died.
The poppy came to be chosen as a symbol of remembrance partly because of its association with Flanders and the famous poem by John McCrae “In Flanders fields the poppies grow”. Some associate it with militarism and the celebration of war but the origin was the dreadful loss sustained by almost every household in Britain, in France, in Germany and elsewhere in Europe and the memory of those losses brought home in the poignant symbols of War Memorials that were set up in the years after 1918.
I have found a supplier who offers a discount for multiple packets and Ive already put in an order for 5 packets - that's 1000 seeds. I'll be happy to share some with anyone who would like to grow poppies this year - please pm me here or talk to me on the site (yes, I promise to get there more often now we're past the turn of the year!). If you'd like to order your own the link is www.victoriananursery.co.uk/Flanders_Poppy_Seed/
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
