The arrival of spring and warm weather means Frisbee and picnics for most, but for the Ball State University ground crews, it's time to make campus look beautiful for Commencement.
The early nice weather enabled Ball State's Landscape and Environmental Management to get a head start on spring clean up around campus, Mike Planton, associate director of Landscape and Environmental Management, said.
"We came out of winter and normally [spring cleanup] is slower to get started," he said. "We just put some pansies in a couple of weeks ago and we're watching the weather so the annuals won't freeze."
The grounds crew has been patching up holes in the parking lots and the lawns for the past four weeks, Planton said.
"There was a lot of snow [this winter] and we didn't get any meltdown so we ran out of places to store it all," he said. "It ended up damaging some of the landscapes."
He said landscaping services has started to take snowplows and salt spreaders off of trucks so they can be used for their spring needs.
The grounds crew had a budget of about $150,000 in supplies this year, Kevin Kenyon, associate vice president of Facilities Planning and Management said.
Planton said snow removal takes up almost half the budget.
"It depends on the winter and how much salt I have to put down," he said. "[This year] it was just winter. We've had a lot worse before."
Recent budget cuts at Ball State haven't affected the landscaping budget so far. The fiscal year started in July so he's already spent about 75 percent of the budget.
And although they have yet to be affected by budget problems, landscaping services has already started finding ways to cut costs, Planton said.
Instead of buying new, shredded mulch, the grounds crew has been laying down wood chips from trees they've trimmed around campus, he said.
Landscaping services also will start cutting back on the number of flower beds it orders. Planton said he will likely divide and move the flower beds on campus and put perennials in so he doesn't have to buy as much in the future.
In the meantime, the crew is focusing on general clean up like trimming trees and picking up trash.
"I don't think people realize how much time and how many dollars we spend picking up trash," Planton said. "About a third of the crew works on picking up trash."
Landscape and Environmental Management is constantly working to keep the university looking nice.
"There has been a concentrated effort to make the university look nice as a marketing tool," he said.
The landscape is a tool to attract people to campus and to create an environment for students and faculty to relax, Kenyon said.
"We try to create an environment for informal interactions," he said. "It serves a purpose to improve the quality of life for everyone, not just students."
Keynon said Ball State's landscape stands out compared to many other college campuses.
"Our people do a very nice job and we try to get color on campus," he said. "We get tremendous impact and positive feedback."
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