Members of the Rotary Club of Witney planted 4,000 purple crocus bulbs in the town to highlight the fight to eliminate polio in the Third World.
A team of eight rotarians planted the flowers on a grass bank alongside Thorney Leys.
When they bloom in February the flowers will form a 9ft diameter cog wheel – the club’s symbol.
Purple was chosen because it is the same colour as the mark daubed on the hands of those who have been vaccinated in the developing world.
The marks help immunisation teams know who they have treated and who has yet to receive a jab.
Event organiser Francis Newenham said: “Polio is a terrible disease, and in third world counties it can be devastating. I would be very, very pleased to get rid of it.”
Since the 1980s Rotarians have been working with the World Health Organisation to eradicate the disease.
Polio affects the central nervous system and can lead to paralysis. It is now endemic only in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nigeria.
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