This past spring, an Austintown man planted 5,000 sunflower seeds, and next year he wants to plant 50-thousand more but says he will need help.

64 year-old Dale Basista is a lifelong Austintown resident, he says there was a community effort to bring life to the township property, at the corner of Elmwood and Rosemont Avenues, by creating a community garden. But, Basista said the number of volunteers slowly dwindled. Basista said most of the garden volunteers worked for General Motors in Lordstown and transferred to other locations.

The Austintown Woodside Community Garden though still had some donations left towards their vision and that's when Basista said he decided to plant 5,000 sunflower seeds.

"I figured, I'm just going to do this on my own," said Basista.

The flowers bloomed in August and created an eye-catching landscape.

Basista said it became somewhat of a tourist attraction with people stopping to take photographs, and planning the location as a backdrop for family pictures.

Basista said he now wants to plant 50-thousand seeds next spring and make a much larger field, but needs the community to help.

Anyone interested is asked to contact Basista through the Austintown Woodside Community Garden Facebook page.