About 3000 poppies tied with a small twig of rosemary, for remembrance, were placed beside war graves at Whanganui's Aramoho Services Cemetery yesterday.
Come Thursday they will be removed.
It's part of tradition dating back for as long as Pam Dawson, president of the Whanganui RSA Women's Section, can remember.
She and about 24 volunteers spent the morning binding poppies to sprigs of rosemary, and the afternoon placing them besides graves, aided by Whanganui City College students and Air Training Corps cadets.
Along the rows of servicemen's graves were also vases of red, white and blue flowers and a special memorial wreath of poppies, roses and white daisies in the shape of a cross was placed beside the flag pole.
Piles of poppies and rosemary are also in containers under two trees in the cemetery for members of the public who visit the cemetery.
Ms Dawson said the women laid the poppies at the cemetery every year. "It's a big job but we love doing it.'"