A field of colour slowly disappeared as the Endeavour Foundation supported employees and volunteers from Bundaberg, South-east Queensland, to create 9,000 bunches of chrysanthemums for Mother's Day.
The annual harvest is one of the not-for-profit organisation's major fundraisers, with money raised from the sale of the flowers put back toward supporting people with a disability at the Endeavour Foundation.
Preparation for Mother's Day begins six months before the event and involves the planting of 6,000 multi-coloured chrysanthemums.
Bundaberg site manager for Endeavour Foundation Industries Robert Campbell said it was a massive job to grow and harvest the flowers and required community and volunteer support.
"We plant in the end of November for a May flowering," he said.
"Right now the volunteers are cutting the flowers, stripping the flowers and bunching.
"We even have local schools helping — and without their assistance Mother's Day just wouldn't happen."
Timing the bloom is vital.
To assist the plants to flower at a coordinated time, Endeavour Foundation Industries used lighting at night.
"We have LED lights above the plants and that helps give them their height, to allow easier harvest and stops them budding too early," Mr Campbell said.
"Our farmers really know the secrets to growing chrysanthemums.
"We should see a lot of very happy mums this Sunday."
The Endeavour Foundation is Australia's largest employer of people living with a disability.
Mr Campbell said many of the supported employees at the Bundaberg location have been with the organisation long term.
"What the team here does every single day is not short of amazing," he said.
"I've got a couple of people that have been here 38 years or 40 years of service and they do a variety of tasks around the farm, from Mother's Day harvest to growing tomatoes and pumpkin for the supermarkets.
"So our community supporting us is what makes Endeavour Foundation happen and Endeavour provides work for people with a disability."
The Mother's Day chrysanthemums bunches end up for sale in the local market and are transported throughout Queensland.
