Friday Focus: Summer brings campus flowers
Campus flowers bloom during the summer of 2025.
June 5, 2026
— By Amber McKirgen, UAF Grounds Department service manager
The annual Campus Flower Planting Day was held on Wednesday, and it was a tremendous success. An incredible number of volunteers turned out, and the Grounds Department staff sincerely thanks everyone who took time to help beautify our campus.
With your support, we planted more than 4,000 flowers across 16 campus flower beds in a single day. The enthusiasm and teamwork displayed by our campus community made a significant impact and will be enjoyed by students, staff and visitors throughout the season.
Over the next few weeks, the Grounds Department will complete the remaining flower and vegetable gardens, as well as the decorative flower containers located throughout campus.
Our efforts will continue throughout the summer and into the fall. Planned projects include topdressing and turf improvements in several areas, with a particular focus on South Chandalar, along with revitalizing perennial beds and flowering trees that experienced damage during the long winter months.
We will also be making improvements to our campus trail system by widening select walking trails, removing hazard trees and adding wood chips to improve trail structure, stability and overall accessibility.
We have a fantastic crew and are looking forward to a wonderful and successful summer season.
Thank you again to everyone who volunteered and helped make this year's Campus Flower Planting Day such a success.
Friday Focus is a column written by a different member of UAF's leadership team every week. On occasion, a guest writer is invited to contribute a column.