One Creighton employee need not look much further than her own backyard to discover new and interesting plants to spice up Creighton’s campus.

And you need not travel much farther than the Skinner Mall for evidence that the work she has done at home has made the home of the Creighton community one of the most beautiful places in Omaha.

“It’s a good testing ground for here,” said groundskeeper Jessica Heller. “If they can make it in my yard, they can make it anywhere.”

Heller likes to experiment with different types of plants and color combinations in her own yard that might factor into a future design for the campus. She does this along with her husband, who works in horticulture.

Nearly 40 acres of Creighton’s 130 total acres are green space, said Lennis Pederson, associate vice president and director of Facilities Management.

While these flowering spaces are not easy to overlook, the work that goes into them is not quite as evident, but the crew of 10 full-time groundskeepers is passionate about the work.

“We take a lot of pride in what we do and feel lucky to have the resources to do it,” she said. She is Creighton’s arborist and horticulturist, meaning she is an expert on trees and plants.

Heller and the nine other full-time groundskeepers do not just plant flowers and mow grass, however. The knowledge required for these various flowers and trees in a landscape setting is expansive. Extensive planning is required in terms of what flowers will grow well together and which colors will most successfully complement one another.

Heller received a Bachelor of Science in botany from Iowa State University and has worked at Creighton since shortly after her graduation nearly 10 years ago.

Besides her own ideas, help from architectural firms and plans that have already been laid out for the campus, the Rev. John P. Schlegel, S.J., university president, also likes to incorporate his own style.

“He is very passionate about the landscape here,” she said. “He’s very knowledgeable, too.”

The beautification of Creighton’s campus can be attributed to the combination of Schlegel’s vision and Heller’s equally passionate leadership and appreciation of positive campus aesthetics. She believes graduates will fondly remember their college experiences with respect to the surroundings in which their most treasured memories are made.

For Creighton students, these surroundings are as vast and beautiful as the brick mall lined with trees and flowers, the open green space outside the Skutt Student Center, the wonderfully serene Jesuit Gardens or the newly-paved path to the Harper Center.

You can see all of these beautiful spaces now, when they are not even in full bloom, so imagine the campus during mid-summer when all the plants and trees are in their prime.

“Unfortunately, everything is at its best when the students are gone,” Heller said.

However, looking around at campus now, it appears the beauty is still holding on as the threats of fall and winter creep closer and closer. Heller is still keeping her eyes on the changing seasons though.

As winter approaches, many of the vibrantly colored flowers must be pulled – a sad time for any horticulturist, but one that gives birth to next spring’s layout of flowers and plants. The design must be ready in the fall in order to contact surrounding nurseries who can begin growing the plants now.

The one constant during any time of the year is Heller’s difficulty naming her favorite spot on campus.

“It changes from year to year.”

Much like the seasons.