It's such a beautiful way to celebrate a centenary - and it may help some people in the direst need, too.
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As Legacy, which helps the distressed families of deceased and injured service people, approached its 100th year, one of its volunteers came up with the idea of creating a new variety of flower.
It prompted botanists at a nursery on the edge of Lake George to develop a new variety of the grevillea shrub. The result is "Grevillea LegacyFlame".
Its bright flame-like, orange-red flowers resemble Legacy's symbol, a torch with a wreath of laurel.
There are now about 2000 of the plants in the ACT government's nursery in Yarralumla, ready to go out to shops (they can't be bought directly from the nursery). They are expected to sell for $15 to $20 a pot, with 80 cents going to Legacy.
The idea is that production should continue for years to provide a stream of income to Legacy. Under Plant Breeders Right rules, other growers can't copy it.
The plant suits climates in all Australian states but not the Northern Territory. Because it was developed so close to Canberra, it is particularly suited to the ACT.
"It needs a well-drained position," said Belinda Ryan, who is growing the plants at Yarralumla.
"They're my babies," she said of the plants she tends. The only thing they don't really like is cold, soaked soil.
The volunteer who came up with the idea is Suzanne Curry, who got involved with Legacy after she learned of a veteran who had survived appalling conditions as a prisoner of the Japanese building the Burma railway - but who emerged from his ghastly ordeal still believing in the goodness of people.
"It's a small plant, and that's important," she said, "because a lot of widows are living in small places."
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Legacy supports 840 people in and around the ACT - including a 107-year-old lady in Yass.
"Our youngest is two. Her dad died before she was born," said the president of Legacy in the ACT, Chris Appleton.
The organisation helps people with heating bills, for example. It also promotes support groups where people talk to each other to share experiences and help each other.
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Steve Evans
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
