The Grass is Always Greener at Maryland

Daybreak at the University of Maryland during the month of April begins just after 6 a.m. That's when the sun starts its slow, lazy ascent from behind Fraternity Row, painting the surrounding landscape with a gentle orange hue before quickly rising to cover the entire campus in bright daylight. Ed Saunders has seen many a pretty sunrise during his eight years of employment at Maryland. The 58-year-old groundskeeper is often on the job before first light during the spring and summer months, meticulously maneuvering his 22-horsepower self-riding mower in near-darkness as he trims the grass around the Rossborough Inn and the long stretch of greenery that runs parallel to Route 1.

Part of his early-bird motivation is to beat the heat during the warm seasonal weather, Saunders says, but the main reason is to have a clear mowing area that is free from parked cars and pedestrian traffic. "I can do a better job by coming in earlier than most people who work here," he says.

Watching Saunders work is all about watching someone do a better job. You can see it as he guides his riding mower along the 10-foot-wide swath of turf that borders the low brick wall and sidewalk alongside of Route 1. "You're always looking. Who's coming? Who's going? What cars are shooting by you?" Saunders says during a brief break. "It's a lot of work, but I enjoy it. You [are able to] work on your own, and it's not micro-managed-type work. You have your guidelines, but you are basically out there every day and see for yourself what needs to be done."

Saunders heads back to work, once again mowing a straight line along the quarter-mile stretch of grass that runs from the Rossborough Inn to the south campus gate. He quickly turns his machine around, takes a good look to make sure he is not cutting too low or that he has missed a spot, then heads back north, this time driving directly on the sidewalk to blow the fresh cut grass clear with the mower's spinning blades.

Ever present behind Saunders' large frame as he drives back and forth is a spiked stick used to pick up any garbage he runs across. "It's a constant thing," he says, pointing to the litter that accumulates from both pedestrian and vehicular traffic along the busy roadway. Collecting trash along Route 1 is just one inconvenience to deal with, Saunders says, but what's really frustrating is ongoing campus construction that tears up the landscape. "We've got [the turf around] Route 1 looking pretty good right now, but I already see some survey stakes out there where somebody's going to come along and do some more digging," he says with a laugh. "But hey, that's progress."

If you turn your head away for more than a minute, Saunders is apt to be gone--speeding off on his mower to accomplish one of the many tasks that help keep the university looking green and idyllic. He reappears 20 minutes later with a leaf blower strapped to his back, blowing grass clippings from the brick walkways that surround the Rossborough Inn. "It takes time for turf to grow, it takes time to get the weeds out, and it takes time to get this place looking right," he says. After a 10 a.m. lunch break, Saunders is seen with a steel rake in hand, evenly spreading a new layer of mulch across one of the flowerbeds outside of the university's Visitor Center. "Everything that is related to grounds maintenance, we do," he says.

In 2001, Landscape Services planted 10,302 flower bulbs, including 1,200 tulips that are placed each fall in the "M" circle.

The "we" that Saunders refers to is Building and Landscape Services, a unit within the Department of Facilities Management that is responsible for maintaining almost 225 acres of turf across the university's 1,200-acre campus. With the exception of the athletic fields and the golf course--each has its own grounds personnel--Landscape Services maintains virtually every inch of turf, shrubbery and flowerbeds at Maryland. The 75-person crew also coordinates leaf removal in the fall; snow removal in the winter; pest control; the application of herbicides; garbage collection from the trash bins on campus and litter control. In addition, Landscape Services provides specialized services like installing railroad ties and raised flowerbeds to prevent erosion and fabricating and maintaining ornamental iron railings.

Saunders, whose responsibilities center on mowing, renovating turf areas, trimming shrubbery for safety purposes and collecting litter on the grounds, says that "everything we do here is important and has to be done. We do the same things here that you would have to do around your own house." Then again, one would have to have a fairly large estate to accommodate the amount of landscape materials used each year at Maryland.

In 2001, Landscape Services planted 10,302 flower bulbs, including 1,200 tulips that are placed each fall in the "M" circle (see pages 30-31.) Also, 18,500 annuals and 2,500 perennials were planted across campus--all protected from weeds and the hot summer sun by the 3,600 cubic-yards of mulch spread during the course of the year.

Ed Williams is the office supervisor for Landscape Services who orders all of the plant materials used each year across campus. He explains that the university is broken up into six separate work zones, with a seventh "free floating" zone comprised of the large grass area in front of Memorial Chapel, the softball fields across from engineering and the lawn area inside of Fraternity Row.

Williams says there is a bit of friendly rivalry between the crews and their individual zones, with each crew trying to make its area the best looking zone on campus. But the bottom line, he says, is that the entire Landscape Services crew works together as a team to make the university look its finest. "Our leadership is good," he says, "and that carries its way down to every one of our employees. They all have pride in their work and it shows."

Each zone has a supervisor and a landscape technician who are responsible for making decisions that determine how each area looks; that is, what flowers are ordered (color, size, height, length of bloom), where the flowerbeds are located, and the types of hedges or shrubbery that are planted. One thing that is standard across campus is the recommended cutting height for the turf (four inches) and the type and mixture of grass seed used (a mix of two or three tall fescue varieties combined with one or two perennial rye grass varieties.) Williams says that Landscape Services normally follows guidelines for turf seeding and care that are published by the university's Cooperative Extension Service.

Ed Saunders is part of a crew of seven people who maintain Zone 1, an area that includes Fraternity Row, the Rossborough Inn, the Visitor Center and the grounds directly on either side of Route 1 from the main gate at Campus Drive to the south campus gate at the edge of downtown College Park. Saunders won't admit to any rivalry between the landscape crews across campus. Instead, he relates that "as we ride through other zones, we look and see areas where they may be able to improve, or we may get an idea for improving our zone."

Many of the design ideas for making Zone 1 look good come from Paul Hemmings, the zone's landscape technician. Hemmings, who earned a bachelor of science degree in ornamental horticulture from Maryland, is responsible for the health and well-being of everything that grows in Zone 1, including the beautifully kept gardens and shrubbery that surround the historic Rossborough Inn. "The Rossborough Inn is special for us because we know they have a great deal of weddings and private functions here, so we put a little extra effort into making it look good," Hemmings says. The extra effort has paid off. The landscaping around the building looks spectacular, with trimmed lawns giving way to mulched flowerbeds filled with brightly colored Wave petunias, coleus and large perennial hostas. Accenting the entire area are eight-foot-tall American holly hedges, a small Japanese maple tree, and well-kept rustic brick walkways and parapet walls that are shaded by stately white oak trees.

Hemmings says that deciding which annual flowers to use is in part related to the threat of drought that has plagued the state for the last few years. "We look for durable plants that can withstand the dry seasons," he says. He adds that while his own training and education can respond to most of the plant or pest problems he encounters, he is not hesitant to contact university faculty members if he needs further advice on plant biology or pest management.

It is now just after 1 p.m. and Ed Saunders is almost finished with his workday. He finally slows down, sits on a bench outside of the Dairy and looks at the flourishing greenery that surrounds him. He pauses for a moment, then smiles. "Nature is beautiful, and I just enjoy it, being out here," he says. "I've had offers for other jobs that are inside, and I've turned them down ... I think I'd just like to stay out here."   --CP