Get ready to prep patios, lawns at the Trillium Garden Club’s annual sale

Colorful Bougainvillea plants, hanging baskets and veggie starters will be the stars of the show when the Trillium Garden Club hosts its annual plant sale in May.

Members expect a large turnout at the floral booths, cut and prepared by many of the club’s 40 or so members.

“We have 14-inch patio pots that are just adorable,” said club president Rita Ruscetti of Harmar.

“People also love perennials and tropicals.”

The sale, in its fourth decade, will be from 9 am to 1 pm on May 4 at O’Hara Community Park.

Founded in 1947, the garden club operates with the goal of promoting civic improvement and helping to inspire garden planning, horticulture, floral design and sustainability.

Member Donna Wehrle said the club is known for its annual plant sale, which draws hundreds of shoppers to the park along Fox Chapel Road.

“After a long dreary winter, the plant sale is an uplifting kickoff to the spring season,” Wehrle said. “The location is not only aesthetically pleasing, but motorists on Fox Chapel Road are drawn to the vast array of colorful flowers as they drive by.”

Wehrle said there is “an exquisite selection” of colorful annuals, popular perennials, cascading baskets, tropical flowering plants and variegated patio pots.

With the proceeds from the sale of the plant averaging a few thousand dollars a year, the club has donated to beauty or environmental projects throughout the area. Beneficiaries include Camp Guyasuta, Fox Chapel Area School District and Best of Blawnox.

“We’re providing funding for the plants around the ‘Welcome to Blawnox’ sign, and we’re maintaining a circular planting at O’Hara Community Park,” Ruscetti said.

The club’s most recent focus is on community gardens, Ruscetti said. Donating money to those efforts not only helps organizers plan and track growing areas, but also helps feed people in need.

“Whatever produce the community gardens have left over, they donate it to Second Harvest Thrift Store in Sharpsburg,” Ruscetti said.

New members are welcome, Ruscetti said, and no experience is necessary.

“We’re not just a club for avid gardeners,” he said. “Many of us are trying to learn more.”