Mother Nature is not the only reason why 25,000 square feet of Ohio State land changes seasonally.
More than 30 flower beds around campus, most now blossoming with tulips, are the responsibility of OSU landscaping crews.
There is a planting crew, a pruning crew and a turf crew all traveling to different sites around OSU, said superintendent of plant material Cathy Maupin.
After the spring tulips and irises bloom, the planting crew will remove the dead flowers and replace them with canna, petunias, marigolds, zinnias, impatiens and sweet potato vines, Maupin said.
Maupin ordered the annual flowers from local nurseries in early March so they would be identical in size and shade of color.
The flowers are planted around the week of May 15 so they will be ready for graduation festivities, Maupin said.
“The flowers give pride to the campus,” said Becky Echelberry, a senior in landscape horticulture who works on the planting crew.
When the campus looks good it reflects on the students, Echelberry said.
Steve Volkmann, the university landscape architect, said most of the annual beds are placed at gateways to the university and around high traffic areas where a lot of people will see them.
“By pulling back the foundation shrubs around buildings we eliminate areas where people can hide,” Volkmann said. “After the foundation plantings are gone we can rejuvenate the area by adding flower beds.”
He said they are trying to simplify the landscape.
Volkmann said another purpose of the flower beds are to patrol pedestrian traffic. By adding flowers to areas that are heavily worn it dissuades people from walking in that area.
“Post and chain can only do so much, then we try landscaping,” Volkmann said.
