Standing with Ukraine: Take part in our #SunflowerSolidarity campaign
We stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine and with all people who have been forced to flee their homes. We believe every person has the right to feel safe; to live freely, without the threat of violence or persecution. We have found that gardens and the act of gardening can help bring us together and share common ground.
Gardening is a universal language. It nurtures our bodies and our minds and as we digest the terrible news coming out of Ukraine, it is so important that we care for our mental health to give us the strength to help and take positive action. Gardening gives us a language of beauty, hope and dignity we can all understand.
Take part in our #SunflowerSolidarity campaign
The sunflower is the national flower of Ukraine. It is also the perfect time of year for many of us to plant sunflower seeds.
Gardener to gardener we invite you to sow a sunflower seed, nurture it and enjoy it. Plant one for yourself, and consider planting one for someone unable to sow the seeds they had so looked forward to nurturing this spring.
If you’re planting with children or want a fun activity to bring the seed sowing to life, you might like our Lenny Lemon ‘sunflower pot people’ activity sheet, created in conjunction with the Royal Horticultural Society. It’s ideal for families and classroom settings and a range of age groups.
Sunflower pot people activity sheet
- Download in English
- Download in Arabic | تحميل باللغة العربية
- Download in Farsi | دانلود به زبان فارسی
We have plenty more children’s activity sheets and resources if you’d like to make a longer gardening session of it. All are free to download.
Wherever you are in the world, please share photos of your sunflower seed sowing, seedlings and growing plants with us on social media. We’re on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Tag us: @lemontreetrust, #SunflowerSolidarity, and we will share them as a show of strength and love for all displaced people.
What we’re currently working on
Over the coming days and weeks, we will be reaching out to charities and organisations supporting Ukrainian people arriving in the UK to offer seeds and gardening activity sheets. We are also working on translating a selection of the activity sheets into Ukrainian. If you know of a charity or organisation that could benefit from seed packets and family gardening activity sheets, please email us at [email protected] or complete our .
Update – July 2022: The Ukrainian ‘Lenny Lemon’ family gardening activity resources are now available to download.
Aveen Ibrahem is Operations Manager at Lemon Tree Trust, overseeing our community gardening and cooking programmes across the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Her work supports activities in Azadî Community Garden in Domiz 1 camp, as well as outreach and coordination across the nine camps where Lemon Tree Trust currently operates. Having lived in Domiz 1 … Continued
Inside the polytunnels at the Hêvî Community Garden in Gawilan refugee camp, Garden Manager Othman Qewas carefully selects fruit trees and flowering plants grown from seed. Joined by Hamid Abdullah, Lemon Tree Trust’s Horticulture and Landscape Consultant, the plants are loaded into the car before setting off to visit families across the camp. As part of our ongoing children’s outreach programme in Gawilan camp, … Continued
Bringing together residents to celebrate the home gardens they have grown, tended and transformed over the past year, Lemon Tree Trust’s 2026 Annual Garden Competitions have taken place across nine refugee and IDP (internally displaced people) camps in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. This year’s competitions introduced a greater emphasis on welcoming new participants alongside … Continued