By Sharon Omahen
University of Georgia
Chris Brannon and three of his friends spent four hours
spray-painting a huge University of Georgia “G” on the front lawn
of the UGA campus in Griffin, Ga. No, they aren’t vandals.
They’re members of the campus’s landscape crew.
They put the landscape art there to make a point, and it’s
working.
“People know us as the Georgia Experiment Station but many
people
don’t realize we’re part of the University of Georgia,” said
Wayne Crawford, head of the campus landscape crew. “Now people
are making the connection, and they love the ‘G.’”
The crew cut the 75-foot-high and 50-foot-wide “G” into the
grass
with an edger, then mowed the grass low and painted it red.
“We’ve had the ‘G’ cut into the grass for a while now but it’s
never been red,” Crawford said. “With it being football season,
we decided it was time to brighten it up.”
The paint is athletic field turf paint specially blended to
match
the true UGA red color.
Don’t try this at home
UGA turf specialist Clint Waltz doesn’t recommend fans
duplicating the process at home.
“Buying athletic field turf paint would be an expensive
venture
for most homeowners,” Waltz said. “And you’d need to reapply the
paint every 14 to 21 days to maintain a fresh, nonfaded
appearance.”
Before you start a project like this, he said, consider what
it
does to the turf.
“Turf isn’t meant to be painted long-term,” he said. “The turf
stand can become weakened because the plant’s natural metabolic
processes are being blocked.”
Waltz said you could use the paint as a temporary colorant on
dormant turf with fewer harmful effects.
You can also support your favorite team, whether they’re
Bulldogs
or Yellow Jackets, by creating a team flower garden.
Use pansies to create team garden
“Pansies are a great plant to use to create a garden showing
your
team support,” said Bodie Pennisi, an Extension Service
horticulturist with the UGA College of Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences.
“Pansies come in red, purple, blue, apricot, lavender, white,
yellow, pink, bronze and mahogany colors,” she said. “Thanks to
the new Halloween varieties, they come in orange and black,
too.”
To create your team garden at home, select an area on a slope
if
you can. “Using a sloped area will allow you to see your creation
better from a distance,” Pennisi said.
Mark a circle on the ground with ordinary spray paint. Next,
till
the circle using a rotary tiller and remove all the grass. Place
amended soil inside the circle to create a raised bed 4 to 6
inches high. Then mark the outline of your team symbol inside the
circle using the handle of your shovel.
If you’re creating a “G,” Pennisi said, fill it in with red
pansies first. Plant them a bit closer together than you normally
would.
Finish your creation by filling in the remainder of your
circle
with either white or black pansies.
“This flower garden can be created as a show of support to any
sports team,” she said. “Just as long as you have an easily
recognizable symbol and one you can draw.”
Pennisi said pansies are perfect because they come in so many
colors and grow close to the ground. They’re a good choice for
fall planting, too, because they perform well in cool
weather.
“You can plant them now and they’ll provide fall flowers and
spring color,” she said.
No matter which plant you choose for your team garden,
smaller is
better.
“If you use large plants like they do in the football
stadiums,
you have to have a large area,” Pennisi said. “And you’ll be
looking at a lot of maintenance to make sure the plants look good
… so you’d better be a really devoted fan.”
