When Victoria, B.C., resident Deidre Moran started crocheting poppies at her Colwood home in September, she only intended to make a few.
The three-dimensional flowers were tricky — including four petals, a pistil and stamen all sewn together.
“It probably takes an hour, an hour and a bit,” she told Global News. “I figured I could give it a good try, do a couple — then I figured, why not a hundred?”
Moran has now made 100 crocheted poppies, sewn into a net draped around a tree in her front yard.
It’s an art exhibit designed to honour veterans ahead of Remembrance Day, and celebrate the centennial anniversary of the poppy as a symbol of remembrance in Canada.
“I feel ultimately the goal of course is to remind people to support veterans and I hope in some way it’s done that,” she said.
She hopes passersby stop outside her home, she added, to observe a quiet moment of reflection.
According to the Royal Canadian Legion, John McCrae’s poem ‘In Flanders Fields’ inspired a French woman named Anna Guérin to distribute the poppy on Nov. 11 — Armistice Day — as a way to raise money for veterans in need, and remember those who gave their lives during the First World War.
In July of 1921, it was adopted by the Great War Veterans Association as the official flower of remembrance. That organization later merged with other veterans groups to become the Royal Canadian Legion.
Moran said she’ll remove her installation on Nov. 12, but will put it back up next year with one new poppy to mark the 101st year of the symbol.