Bulbs and beyond

Yale’s Landscape and Grounds team winterizes irrigation, aerates lawns, and plants bulbs to keep over 1,100 acres of campus green, healthy, and beautiful year-round.

As summer turns to fall, with less daylight, cooler temperatures, and the campus bustling with students and activity, Landscape and Grounds Manager Bill Carone is already thinking about winter. During autumn, his team prepares spent perennials, gangly shrubs, and drought-stressed lawns for the seasons ahead.  

Yale’s campus extends across 1,108 acres, including the athletic fields, the Yale Golf Course, West Campus, and the Central and Medical campuses. Modern and historic buildings are surrounded by greenspaces, courtyards, plazas, lawns, and gardens used daily by the university community and its visitors.  

Maintaining the health and beauty of this vast landscape requires ongoing care and planning throughout the year. In early fall, the master gardeners and groundskeepers cut back flowers and shrubbery to promote healthy spring growth. As trees start to lose their leaves, the team collects and mulches them for reuse as compost on garden beds and lawns.

By mid-October, the team concentrates on aerating and reseeding lawns and courtyards. Before the ground freezes, they will plant over 6,000 tulip, daffodil, hyacinth, and allium bulbs throughout campus. They also winterize irrigation systems, using air compressors to blow water from underground pipes to prevent freezing and rupturing.  

“We do not use herbicides or pesticides, so it’s important to aerate and overseed every fall to relieve soil compaction from the season’s foot traffic and heat to keep the lawns healthy. It was a very hot and dry summer, so we are looking into more drought-resistant grass seeds and plants,” said Carone.  

Lastly, the grounds garage mechanics prepare equipment for cold weather use by attaching plows and salt spreaders to utility carts and trucks, in advance of clearing snow from over 200 miles of university roadways, walkways, and parking lots.

Carone, supported by a team of 48 staff members including three grounds supervisors, coordinates all landscaping efforts, manages seasonal maintenance, and oversees the trash, recycling, and compost programs — processing over 800 tons of dining hall food waste yearly. The landscape and grounds team also supports special events such as Commencement, alumni reunions, varsity home games, Bulldog Bash, and Spring Fling, to name a few.   

While Carone and his staff use a detailed master plan to guide their year-round maintenance schedule, weather often affects the timing and scope of work. Some of the new projects planned for 2026 include planting approximately 75 trees throughout campus and establishing pollinator and native gardens along the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail behind Benjamin Franklin and Pauli Murray Colleges.  

“Prolonged periods of heat and drought as well as unexpected early frosts or late winters can shift some of our bigger landscape plans,” said Carone. “If we have a rainy, cool spring and the grass doesn’t green up, we work together on a plan B, to ensure the grounds look great for Commencement weekend.” 

By spring, all the fall preparation work comes to fruition. Lawns emerge lush and green, while thousands of spring bulbs create colorful ground displays. The succession of blooms continues into the trees — first the early redbuds and magnolias, then crab apples and flowering dogwoods, ensuring the campus remains vibrant from March through early summer.   

“I have a passion for outdoor employment, and I am lucky to work alongside an awesome team of people who share that same passion,” added Carone. “It’s rewarding to see so many individuals enjoying the outdoor areas, and in spring, to see the impact of all the hard work our team does to keep Yale’s grounds healthy and beautiful. I’m proud that together we continue enhancing the historic beauty of this campus.”