Landscaping & Irrigation

As of January 16th, it is turning out to be a relatively mild winter. We will see what happens in the next month and a half. There are semitropical plants on campus that are usually frozen to the ground by now but this winter they are still green and putting on new growth. I would like to see a little snow; normally we have at least one snow day, I guess there is still time.

After the Thanksgiving holiday, we began pulling out the summer plantings, prepping the soil, and planting bulbs, violas, and pansies. The color beds or the beds we change out seasonally are:

Dallas Hall (at main entrance)
Perkins Chapel
Bishop (on south end of the boulevard)
Mockingbird and Bishop
Cox School of Business (on Bishop)
Blanton (at main entrance)
Junkins
Collins Executive (at main entrance)
Laura Bush Promenade
All pots

In the beds we have planted a variety of daffodils. We are using more daffodils this year than in the past because they tend to be more reliable bloomers than tulips. Tulips can also become infested with aphids where as daffodils bloom too early for the aphids to be a real problem. We will be using tulips at Laura Bush Promenade and Perkins Chapel.

You may also have noticed we are using a lot of curly leaf parsley in our color beds. We are using it as a border around kale. The parsley will stay a vibrant green all winter. Plus it is a touch plant that does not need pampering. We have different varieties of kale in the beds right now. In February, as the kale starts to fade, we will replace them with foxgloves and delphiniums.

We are also continuing to plant groundcover under trees where it is too shady to grow turf grass. We are currently working south of Clements Hall where we have removed the soil from around the base of the trees. We also loosened up the incredibly compacted soil with a tool called an air spade. This benefits the trees and cultivates the soil without disturbing the trees’ root system. In this particular area we will be planting monkey grass. This, we hope, will keep people from walking and driving over the trees’ root system.

On the west side of Umphrey-Lee we have installed an herb garden. It is intended to be used by the cooks in dining services. Keep an eye on it as the seasons change we will add more plants.

We have large projects looming in the future. As the renovations are completed we will landscape Mary Hay and Peyton Hall. We will also be landscaping the Crum basketball facility once construction is finished there.

Until that time we will continue the massive task of removing leaves as they fall. Once we finish removing all the fall leaves the live oaks begin to loose their leaves and we start all over again. We will also be cutting back all the ornamental grasses and mowing all the monkey grass to remove old growth and prevent thatching. We are also mulching all beds before the weed seeds begin to germinate.

Our tree crew has been busy air spading all the trees around Mary Hay and Peyton Hall. This will loosen up the soil that has become compacted from construction and years of foot and cart traffic. They will then prune by hand any roots that girdle other roots. Finally they will mulch over the exposed root system around the base of the tree. Air spading is a laborious, loud, and messy task but it can save the life of a tree. They will also air spade the three live oak trees by the wave fountain on the west side of the Meadows museum.

We hope you enjoy all of our hard work. We are lucky to attend and work at a university that values its landscape to such an extent.

We love feedback. If you have any questions or requests, let us know.

Sincerely,

Ann Allen

Senior Horticulturist

Grounds Dept Receives High Honors!

Southern Methodist University has been recently recognized by two outside organizations as being one of the best looking campuses in the country. The first was by CampusDirt.com, which ranked SMU number 7 across the country. The second organization to recognize the SMU campus was the Professional Grounds Management Society. The PGMS is made up of individuals who secure their primary source of income from grounds management, such as researchers, grounds superintendents, professional gardeners and many others. The award is based on pictures and descriptions of each project we completed over the past two years. SMU Grounds received an Honors Award from PGMS and Landscape Management. The Grounds Department is much honored to receive such recognition and will continue to strive to improve the appearance of Southern Methodist University.

Please visit our photo gallery to see some of our changes around Campus and continue checking in for updates.