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Jorge Rosales, one of six gardeners on staff, trims some hedges near the entrance to Lone Mountain.
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Keeping it Green
Robert McNeill, USF’s head gardener, is logging his second or third mile of the day, walking the 55 acres of the University of San Francisco campus to check on his plants. There are the Impatiens in the center of the Lone Mountain stairway to examine for signs of wilting; the Gaultheria shrubbery east of Campion to inspect for trampled leaves; and a new “view planting” outside the eastern window of the new admissions reception area to maintain. And that’s just for starters.
“[The grounds] require a lot of attention because so many people come through you have to see what happens,” said Greg Bucy, one of six gardeners on staff.
The groundskeepers have their work cut out for them, keeping up appearances in every flower tub and ferny corner of campus. This year, the staff plans to enter the 30th annual Professional Grounds Management Awards for the second time, a national contest between keepers of all kinds of landscapes, including university grounds. The last time USF entered the competition, in 1997, the campus won an “excellence in grounds maintenance” award.
Maintaining the grounds is like entering a multi-layered world, one with many different ecosystems requiring their own kind of soil, access to sunlight, and wind protection. For example, Camellias planted along the shady north side of Lone Mountain are thriving but those near the parking lot lose their flowers early due to rocky soil and overexposure to the sun, said Jorge Rosales, one of two gardeners who take care of the Lone Mountain campus. Rosales tries to strengthen the weak ones with fertilizer and plenty of water.
Although the campus boasts over a hundred varieties of plants and flowers, there is continuity to its scheme. Under past USF President John Schlegel, S.J., flowers followed a pink, purple, and white color pattern. Colors have to be regulated, McNeill said, so that the campus doesn’t look “too busy.”
“You need some commonality because it adds to the flow, so there’s some serenity,” McNeill said.
Tall trees on the campus, including the Leylandii Cypress, the university’s signature tree, require a sub-contractor to trim and maintain. But Thomas Brugge, who maintains parts of the campus along Fulton Street, takes three days once a year to shape the yew trees along the campus’s south side. The Pittosporum in front of the Law School also have to be trimmed down so the fierce Pacific wind doesn’t topple the slender trees.
The university lawns, meanwhile, are a science unto themselves, requiring 12 machines, 6,400 pounds of fertilizer, and thousands of gallons of water per year to keep green and smooth. “It’s also hard because you have to schedule your care in between practices,” said Raul Alcaraz, who maintains the fields. To do his job, Alcaraz commands almost as many different kinds of heavy equipment as an army engineer corps, including a tractor, mower, edger, aerator, and Rototiller.
There’s always more to do, too. McNeill looks down the sloping hillside above Loyola Village, which he recently had hydroseeded (a spray of water and seeds) with a variety of poppies. Even the retaining wall west of Loyola House is open to his designs. He has planted Jupiter’s Beard, or Centranthus ruber, a crevice-growing plant, into the walls’ nooks.
“The gardeners do excellent work,” said Jay Stafford, landscape foreman. “We have a lot of customers here because we have students, so our main struggle is keeping the campus clean.” Stafford estimated that 20 percent of the gardeners’ time is spent cleaning the grounds.
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