WELLINGTON’s Monument Rotary Club are seeing the fruits of their labour rewarded as thousands of purple crocuses appear around the town.

The group regularly plants the purple flowers every autumn to raise awareness of Polio as part of their international campaign Purple4Polio.

Now, as spring returns, the flowers are appearing in swathes on Wellington’s Roly Poly green. Another batch of 3,000 corms are expected to bloom in the coming weeks in Beech Hill.

Planted crocus corms on Roly Poly Green
Planted crocus corms on Roly Poly Green (Photo: Monument Rotary Club)
Monument Rotary Club plant crocuses around Wellington for their International Purple4Polio campaign
The planting team at Beech Hill. From left to right: Ada Mournian, Nigel Reditt, Dave Standen, Clare du Ruyter, Nick Williams, Steve Parry & Paddy Finnegan (Photo: Monument Rotary Club)

Over the past four years, Monument Rotary Club has planted more than 6,000 crocus corms to raise awareness and funds for ending polio worldwide.

The flowers - which are chosen for their colour which echoes the dye used to mark a child’s finger after the receiving the vaccine - symbolise Rotary's commitment to eradicating polio.