PHOTO COURTESY OF FLORA PARK CREAMERY

To the owners of Flora Park Garden Center, the place isn’t just about plants, it’s about people — and Penn State ice cream.

Randy Stetor and Debra Galob, who opened the business in Bethel Park in 2000, now have an onsite sweet shop that serves 24 flavors of ice cream made at Penn State University’s 160-year-old Berkey Creamery in State College.

Each week, the couple makes the 3-hour drive to Penn State to fill their 16-foot box truck with 100 to 300 tubs of ice cream. They recently installed a walk-in freezer to reduce the number of road trips.

PHOTO COURTESY OF FLORA PARK CREAMERY

Flora Park Creamery debuted on Mother’s Day weekend and was an immediate hit thanks to all of the families who treated their matriarch to a cup or cone and a locally grown perennial.

“What’s better than ice cream and flowers?” says Stetor, whose niece played soccer for Penn State.

In the first month of operation, employees dished out 25,000 scoops, ranging from Vanilla Bean Death By Chocolate and Butter Pecan to Bittersweet Mint, dairy-free Cherry Sorbet, Cookies-N-Cream and Alumni Swirl. I’m a University of Pittsburgh graduate, but my stomach is growling like a Nittany Lion.

PHOTO COURTESY OF FLORA PARK CREAMERY

The pet-friendly Creamery has added a cool element to the Corrigan Drive garden center, which is located on seven acres of South Park leased from Allegheny County. Free community events are a hallmark of the business. Throughout the spring, summer and fall, there are state-funded lectures, demonstration gardens, live music, food trucks and children’s programming.

Stetor says it’s important to give back to the community that means so much to him.

Many older customers get emotional when they arrive at Flora Park because of the memories that come flooding back. The land was once home to the Corrigan Drive Pool, which operated from 1931 to 1977, and was designed to mimic the terrain. In the 1940s and 1950s, Black Pittsburghers held “wade-ins” at the segregated swimming spot to protest Jim Crow policies. When the pool was shuttered, the property fell into disrepair.

PHOTO COURTESY OF FLORA PARK CREAMERY

Stetor and Galob are working hard to beautify the area again and welcome everybody. They’re building a patio that uses a manmade waterfall, one of the relics they’ve uncovered from the Corrigan Pool days.

The Creamery is closed on Mondays so the owners can give the facility a deep clean. This is the couple’s first foray into the culinary industry and ice cream, they’ve learned, tends to get everywhere.

“I love it,” Stetor says with a laugh. “It encompasses everything we wanted to do. When we started this journey, we looked into why people go to ice cream shops. People want an experience and to come together as a community.”

Flora Park Creamery is at 30 Corrigan Drive in Bethel Park. Hours are noon to 9 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday. Flora Park Garden Center hours are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday.