Volunteers for Slippery Rock In Bloom plant flowers in green space in the township at last year's planting day. This year's planting day falls on May 29.

Throughout the year, members of Slippery Rock In Bloom tend to not only the thousands of flowers growing in the township, but also to many more growing in pots.

On May 29, members of the group and community volunteers will transfer the potted flowers into the ground around Memorial Park for In Bloom's annual Planting Day.

“It's a twice-a-year major planting project,” said Regina Greenwald, coordinator for Slippery Rock in Bloom. “In the spring at the end of May, we always plant all the summer flowers. Our highest number we planted was 10,000 tulips in two hours.”

Keeping the flowers in town fresh each year means members of In Bloom must constantly be growing and replacing flowers. The group embarks on another planting day in the fall to make sure flowers are ready to grow in the spring as well.

All of this planting work requires the help of volunteers.

“At the end of October, we take all of those flowers out and plant tulips that you now see blooming,” she said. “We look for volunteers all the time... we ask for council volunteers, students.”

Some of the flowers being planted in May include Prince Tuts, sweet potato vines, super petunias and dwarf sunflowers. According to Greenwald, the organization gets a lot of flowers from the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, which helps give the area some vibrant variety.

Greenwald said the mission of In Bloom is to make Slippery Rock look nice to residents and visitors through its planting initiatives.

“We do this for the community, but also because the university brings in a lot of people,” Greenwald said. “We want it to look nice for them.”

Planting Day begins at 9 a.m. May 29 at Memorial Park in Slippery Rock, and more information can be found on In Bloom's Facebook page.