Summer has come early – at least in the horticultural sense. Students have seen a burst of colorful vegetation on campus recently, and AgCenter horticulturalist Dan Gill said hot temperatures are the reason for the explosion in local plant life.
“Ninety percent of our spring has come and gone at this point,” he said. “Spring is over when we hit 90 degrees for the first time – we’ve hit 89 the last few days.”
Spring saw trees like red buds, Japanese magnolias and parsley hawthorns blooming around campus, as well as more noticeable plants like robustly flower-covered indica azaleas. “They literally cover themselves with flowers so you can’t see a leaf on them, and they’re just mounds of color everywhere,” he said. “They really form an integral part of our spring season.”
As a result of the heat, summertime plants like ligustrums and gardenias have already begun to bloom. These plants began blooming in April rather than May, when they usually begin to flower, Gill said.
“People rarely get cues for summertime from plant materials,” Gill said. “It’s not nearly as dramatic as that transition from winter to that blooming period we have in the spring.”
Spring and summer climates bring different maintenance as well. Facility Services Landscape Services assistant director Fred Fellner explained that while winter often sees planting, mulching and some pruning on campus, summer brings more maintenance work and irrigation.
“Turf, ornamental bushes, shrubs, small trees – each one of those areas require irrigation, or we water them by hand,” he said.
The grounds department attempts to use plants native to the local climate to make maintenance more efficient.
“Most of what we do is think in terms of sustainability and low maintenance,” Fellner said.”Low maintenance doesn’t mean no maintenance. Everything needs pruning and everything needs systemic work … [and] chemical work for pests and fungus.”
And some maintenance is required year-round because of Southern Louisiana’s mild winter, Gill said.
“The weeds never take a vacation in our landscapes,” he said. “There are cool season weeds that thrive in gardens in December, January, February and March.”
Despite these yearlong difficulties, the local climate allows growth in plants most regions of the country can’t support. Certain tropical plants, for example, can be grown in Gulf Coast areas but can’t be grown in about 90 percent of the country, Gill said.
“We do live in a climate that gives us a very broad range of plants,” Gill said. “That’s what gives our landscapes part of that very distinctive look we have around here.”
In fact, many local plants like indica azaleas are native to Eastern countries like Japan and China, Gill said.
But Gill said if one plant defines the University area, it’s the live oak.
“The plant that you would say really creates the feel of the LSU campus and the feel of the neighborhoods around the campus are these plantings of large live oaks, which are so dramatic,” he said. “And the Spanish moss hanging from them adds to the mystique.”
 
____ Contact Austen Krantz at [email protected]