CLINTON, Conn. (AP) – A hardware store owner is fighting to keep a 6-foot sunflower on Route 1 that the Department of Transportation wants removed.

This isn’t the first time Jeff Cashman, a fiercely patriotic former landscaper, has tangled with the DOT over flowers.

Two years ago, he planted 50 sunflowers in a bed of red, white and blue posies on a state-owned corner near his hardware store. The DOT cut down the flowers after ruling they obstructed the vision of drivers turning onto Route 1.

Cashman installed plastic flowers in their place to prove a point, then applied for a permit to plant flowers on the same corner.

Now he’s down to three sunflowers and the posies. He said he plants them as patriotic symbols of hope for Connecticut’s troops.

“What are the leaves shaped like?” he asked. “A heart. What color is the flower? Yellow! Like the ribbons we put around trees.”

Cashman says the DOT threatened to clear-cut the patch of ground and pave it unless he removes one of the sunflowers. The DOT employee who issued the request could not be reached for comment, but a department spokesman guessed the problem is that the sunflower is obstructing drivers’ sight lines.

Police Maj. William Chapman said he doesn’t think the sunflower is a problem because the intersection has a traffic signal, but he said Cashman must abide by the DOT’s rules.

“Do you know how much fun we’ve had with that corner?” Cashman said. “The whole community is coming together there, asking, Jeff, what are you doing on the corner this year? Well, we’re still not done in Iraq, and you know the sad thing is, it’s supposed to be support for the troops. I love our country, and I love our troops.”