Brad's Beat: Pittsburg State University Landscaping
By: Brad Douglas
Updated: July 10, 2012
PITTSBURG, KS.--- Cate Brenman is in charge of 1 of the largest yards in the Four States. She's the landscape architect at Pittsburg State University. It's her job to make the campus look beautiful and with this drought, it's not easy.
"Not only about the landscape bu i'm worried about my crews being out in this kind of heat. We do work early hours in the summer," states Brenman.
Her yard consists of 600 acres and her crew not only has to mow practically every day, but they go through gallons of water. In a round about way she's in charge of recruiting new students, because who would want to go to a school with an ugly campus?
"The campus esthetic plays into that a lot. If you don't like where you are, you're not going to want to spend time," states Brenman.
She's even got it down to a science, every tree on campus is programed on her phone with GPS.
"We keep track of which trees removed, which trees need pruning, which trees are looking good," states Brenman.
She does have help, ED Thompson is the Grounds Keeper and his job is to make sure the flowers survive the heat, so he is always watering.
"We miss that longer summer time. We just go into higher temperatures fairly early. I don't know the last 2 or 3 year it's the same thing," states Thompson.
After putting in so many hours making the campus lawn look great, both say their home yards tend to suffer.
"Yeah it's a lot of weeds," says Thompson.
"Yeah after you get home from this you don't want to go out and do anything for yourself," says Brenman.
