I RECOGNISED in 1995 that the Granite Belt district was not only unique within Australia, but also in the Southern Hemisphere.

No other district possesses the historical battlefield place names and a climate that allows the Flanders poppies to bloom for November 11.

In 1997, following the publication of an article and photographs in the Country Gardener magazine, several things eventuated.

The then-Federal Minister for Veteran's Affairs, Bruce Scott, used the cover photograph on his Christmas cards that were sent throughout the world.

Posters showing the same photograph were distributed to schools across Australia.

The magazine was sent to Don Burke, of the TV program Burke's Backyard.

Don and his TV crew filmed the poppies in the Remembrance Field in October 1997, which went to air the first Friday in November.

The Australian Open Garden Scheme had invited me to open my garden and the Remembrance Field under their auspices the first weekend in November.

Thanks to the publicity provided by Don Burke, more than a thousand people came to enjoy the sight.

The RSL workers provided refreshments and manned the gate. Money raised went to the AOG and Brisbane Legacy.

In 1998 Bruce Scott launched a program called Poppies for Remembrance and the Department for Veteran's Affairs sent a packet of Yates Flanders Poppy seed to every school in Australia.

I have continued to cultivate this Remembrance Field every winter to germinate the poppy seed to ensure the Flanders poppies flower by mid-October.

The poppies remain in bloom until mid-November.

I open my property free of charge to all visitors for this four-week period. It has become a Granite Belt tourist attraction but became quickly forgotten nationally after the initial flurry of publicity.

Photographers and artists visit this display every year, and each morning fresh poppies open.

In 2009 I closed our bed and breakfast business as my husband, Eberhard, was unwell.

He died in May 2014.

Although retired from the tourism industry, I still present this spectacular display free of charge to visitors every year and invite them to wander through my garden.

I will continue to do so until 2018, the 100-year anniversary of the signing of the Armistice Treaty at Versailles.