Notice that the campus is starting to look a little greener? Those plants didn’t just pop up over night. They are part of large landscaping process that Creighton undergoes every spring.

“The flowers and spring plantings are very important to Creighton’s image in the community,” said Lennis Pederson, head of Creighton’s Facility Management. “The appearance of the campus is one of the key reasons that incoming freshmen select any college or university.”

The process for spring planting starts as soon as the plants are removed in the fall. The plants themselves don’t go in until much later. Pederson said that as a rule of thumb they generally plant after Mother’s Day to be safe because cold spring weather could lead to disease.

“You can’t just let gardens sit if you want them to come out right,” said Jessica Heller, who is in charge of the planting process. “Over the winter me and a team of guys loosen the soil in the beds and remove the mulch so that it doesn’t dry up. We also discuss what species we think will perform best and in February the design for spring plantings is drawn up and approved.”

“It’s not hard work,” said Mike Lowe, who works for a private landscaping company. “We get started with it pretty early, but by the time the tree’s start budding around April it really looks good.”

Creighton University employs Heller out of her home. She moves the plants to a private nursery in the fall so that they can be moved back in the spring. New plants are still an important part of the landscape though.

“We’re not just recycling the same plants,” she said. “But it’s a great way to save money, which is really important to us.”

The annual budget for the fall and spring planting is $40,000, but due to budget cuts in December that amount has been reduced by 10 percent.

“The impact of the budget cut will not be noticed because the flower beds selected for omission were not in prominent locations,” said Pederson. “Over the past few years there has been a shift from annual plants, that only last a year, to perennial plants that have longer life spans, thereby negating much of the impact of the budget reduction.”

Creighton students tend to have a favorable view of the landscaping around campus. Business sophomore Alex Zimmerman said he thinks that the landscaping is an important part of the campus.

“I don’t think it would do Creighton any good to take away the flowers and everything,” Zimmerman said. “As a student, you just sort of expect a campus to look nice.”