{"id":10735,"date":"2013-05-09T14:23:20","date_gmt":"2013-05-09T18:23:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cpo\/?p=10735"},"modified":"2015-05-06T15:16:37","modified_gmt":"2015-05-06T19:16:37","slug":"10735","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cpo\/2013\/05\/09\/10735\/","title":{"rendered":"Landscaping Revs Up as Commencement Nears"},"content":{"rendered":"

Grounds crew engage in good-natured competition<\/strong><\/p>\n

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05.09.2013 By <\/span>Leslie Friday<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
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University grounds worker Dan Tucker takes his area of campus \u201cto the next level\u201d by adding flowerbeds and mowing in angular patterns. Photos by Cydney Scott<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Everyone at BU knows that Nickerson Field is the epicenter of Commencement weekend, possibly none more than Steve Lindberg and Michael Sisti. The University grounds workers have less than two weeks to plant thousands of geraniums, petunias, and impatiens around West Campus, transforming the area into a flowering oasis that will wow a president, visiting dignitaries, graduates and parents, and passersby.<\/p>\n

A confident Lindberg predicts his section of campus will outshine others. \u201cThis is where it happens,\u201d he brags. \u201cWest is best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not according to Dan Tucker, a grounds worker-cum-poet whose area encompasses Marsh Chapel: \u201cYou can say West is best, but a lot of the other areas have put that to rest.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you can\u2019t tell already, these guys are a tad competitive. Lindberg, Sisti, and Tucker are among the 20 grounds workers spread across six areas of the Charles River Campus feverishly mulching, mowing, and planting up to 12 hours each day, 6 days a week in preparation for\u00a0Commencement<\/a> annually. The 140th BU Commencement is on Sunday, May 19. While they work for the same department, make no mistake: this is horticultural war.<\/p>\n

Ray Bourgeois, manager of grounds and masonry at\u00a0Facilities Management & Planning<\/a>, says Commencement preparation begins as soon as the snow is gone. When it comes to grounds beautification, there\u2019s no huge mystery behind the process. \u201cWe know what we have to do year-to-year,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s a matter of getting out and getting it done.\u201d<\/p>\n

No easy feat considering that the task involves spreading nearly 600 cubic yards of mulch around flowerbeds, trees, and shrubs. Bourgeois says he\u2019s stopped counting how many flowers he\u2019s requested from the University\u2019s wholesale producers,Mahoney\u2019s<\/a> and\u00a0Cavicchio Greenhouses<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He says he isn\u2019t picky about flower types\u2014he simply tells growers to \u201cship me what you have, whatever\u2019s in color\u201d now or by Commencement. Usually that means low-maintenance annuals like petunias, New Guinea impatiens, impatiens, and geraniums, plants that will keep blooming all summer and still look good when students return in September. Occasionally growers send samples of new varieties to gauge grounds workers\u2019 reactions. Sometimes they become so popular, Bourgeois says, that his people \u201cfight over them.\u201d<\/p>\n

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At 7 a.m., tractor trailers laden with flowers and shrubs start rolling up to 120 Ashford St., where grounds workers unload them into a nearby storage facility and then grab whatever they want to plant that day. Bourgeois half-jokingly describes the scene as cutthroat. Lindberg is more graphic: he makes an elbowing motion as he describes the good-natured scrum that develops around hot commodities.<\/p>\n

Steve Crain, who works with Greg Limerick in the Central Campus area, says sometimes the best flowers never make it to the shed, but are snuck directly into workers\u2019 waiting trucks. And if you arrive later than 7 a.m., he says, \u201cyou\u2019ve missed the boat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every BU grounds worker comes to the job with years of landscaping experience, and by extension, personal horticultural preferences. Limerick is a big fan of ornamental grasses, because of their variety, heat tolerance, and the fact that they don\u2019t need much water. \u201cBU wants to conserve,\u201d he says with a broad smile. Luckily, Crain shares his affinity for the plants, but also appreciates a nice rose of Sharon or butterfly bush for sunny spots. Rhododendrons, azaleas, and viburnum flower nicely, he adds, and are perfect for shady spots around campus.<\/p>\n

Tucker likes to bring his area \u201cto the next level\u201d by creating new flowerbeds, adding grass to barren spots, and mowing in angular patterns \u201cto add that little extra feature to make it one step better than across the street.\u201d He says that because of workers\u2019 affinity for a specific flower, some areas around campus have acquired a nickname, like \u201cBay State Rose.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Lindberg says he likes the \u201cbigger pots.\u201d Spoken like a man who\u2019d just finished planting a couple of dozen tiny New Guinea impatiens near the West Campus dining hall and had several dozen more to go before lunch.<\/p>\n

Grounds workers say they don\u2019t start out with a specific landscaping design in mind, but choose varieties based on what will do best in specific exposures (full sun, partial sun, or shade), wind conditions (33 Agganis Way generates its own weather pattern), and color (no monochromatic rows, except for scarlet and white near key points around West Campus).<\/p>\n

Nickerson Field has always been a priority close to Commencement. But rumor has it that the late John Silber (Hon.\u201995), president from 1971 to 1996, used to have Facilities Management & Planning rent potted plants for the big day, sink them into the ground, then dig them up and return them to the growers once the weekend was over.<\/p>\n

Kevin Carleton (COM\u201982), who worked in public relations at BU at the time and is currently a special assistant to President Robert A. Brown, doubts that there\u2019s any truth to the story. Potted plants did appear around Nickerson Field just for Commencement, he says, but were later planted across campus. But he does find black-market trading in potted flowers a chuckle-worthy idea.<\/p>\n

However lore has it, University grounds workers say they\u2019ve added a fair bit of variety to the landscape in recent years, and not just near Nickerson Field. The entire Charles River Campus is on display for Commencement weekend, and continues to be as students and parents visit for summer orientation. Workers take their job seriously and keep tabs on who has the most eye-popping, awe-inspiring display of color.<\/p>\n

Lindberg is keenly aware of the competition and isn\u2019t afraid to say that his and Sisti\u2019s area is \u201cthe focus of the University.\u201d<\/p>\n

Word to the wise, Lindberg, don\u2019t lose focus on those flowerbeds: Crain says a coveted plant \u201cgoes missing\u201d every now and then.<\/p>\n

More information about Commencement can be found on the Commencement\u00a0website<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Leslie Friday can be reached at\u00a0lfriday@bu.edu<\/a>; follow her on Twitter at@lesliefriday<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

This story originally appeared in BU Today<\/a> on May 9, 2013.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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