Fast Facts

The largest tree on campus is an American Elm with a 51.5 inch diameter at last measure. The largest one on the main campus area is a pin oak north of Schlundt Hall with a diameter exceeding 50 inches.

The pin oaks on Francis Quadrangle are not as old as many people think. A 1932 photo from The University of Missouri - An Illustrated History shows no trees on the quadrangle. Apparently the first trees, Moline American Elms, were planted shortly after that but were destroyed by ice storms in January 1948. The pin oaks you see today replaced these elms.

When old man winter blows in, Landscape Services responds with a fleet of equipment and supplies to keep the campus open and operating. We work around the clock with 11 truck plows, 12 sidewalk plows, four cinder salt spreaders and a host of snow shovels and sand spreaders. On average, we spend more than 2,500 labor hours and use more than 20 tons of potassium chloride (an environmentally friendly de-icer) and 100 tons of sand.

Much of our time is spent maintaining the turf on campus. Our maintenance crews operate more than a dozen riding mowers, which saves thousands of labor hours and leaves us more time to keep the rest of campus beautiful.

Grass clippings and leaves are usually left to decompose and enrich the soil. However, we still collect enough each year to produce a small mountain of compost that we use in our flower beds. Prunings from trees and shrubs are ground into mulch by the City of Columbia, which is free for the taking in Capen Park… but you have to load it yourself!