A recent decision to remove daffodils from the Mississippi State campus has left students, landscape workers and professors irritated and confused. An anonymous campus landscape employee said he was instructed to dig up daffodils Feb. 6.
He said he had three days to dig and unearthed approximately 5,000 bulbs. He was told that what he did not dig up would be destroyed by using the herbicide Image.
After he dug up the bulbs, he took them to campus landscape’s greenhouse, where they were put into a planter to be preserved.
“We gave about 1,000 bulbs to the Horticulture Club for them to plant around their greenhouse and to sell at their spring sale,” he said.
While he did not destroy any bulbs, he said other employees sprayed Image in areas with the bulbs.
Although Foglesong was unavailable for comment, he said in a University Relations press release that the daffodils are receiving normal maintenance and replacement.
Ricky Brock, operations coordinator of grounds services, declined to comment, deferring to MSU executive director of facilities management Jim Jones, who could not be reached for comment.
In a press release, Jones said some shrubs and flowers are being removed or replaced because they have thinned out or spread over time.
He also said the daffodil bulbs would be stored and replanted at a later time.
Meghan Schultz, president of the Horticulture Club and senior horticulture major, said she visited the facilities management building to get the details on the decision.
She said she was told that orders were to “destroy them” and to dig up all bulbs or spray them “until they didn’t come up.”
One employee showed her the herbicide that was to be used to spray the daffodils, Schultz said.
“The herbicide they were supposed to use costs $100 for a small bottle,” Schultz said.
Another campus landscape employee, who also wished to remain anonymous, said workers were told to get rid of all the daffodils by digging them up, using a line trimmer or spraying them with herbicide.
The employee said that the daffodils sometimes appear to be sparse because they are typically planted in a naturalistic manner.
Schultz said she was surprised by the announcement about the daffodils.
“We [Horticulture Club] just thought that was kind of ridiculous because they look so pretty in the spring,” she said.
Senior horticulture major Mark Cooper said he heard about the decision during a Horticulture Club meeting.
“We were all rather dumbfounded that [the university] would want to remove the daffodils because they’re a really pretty part of campus,” he said.
The Horticulture Club sent an e-mail to Foglesong expressing its concern but received no response, he said.
However, Cooper sent a separate e-mail and did receive a reply from the president’s account, though it could not be confirmed as of Thursday night that Foglesong himself wrote the message.
“You may want to ask the faculty and staff if I listen to them since you question that – ask them about the pay raises they got,” states the e-mail. “Ask them about the jobs we are getting for you students when you graduate and the jobs we are bringing into the state for our citizens.”
Cooper said he never questioned the MSU president’s listening ability. Cooper’s message emphasized the proper care and treatment of the daffodils, including maintenance tips and drought concerns.
“To many [students] this flower is the first sign of winter’s end and the spring to come,” Cooper wrote in the e-mail. “When other plants are dormant and days are dreary, daffodils are blooming brilliantly, adding color to an otherwise gray landscape.”
The e-mail response addressed the suggestions Cooper offered, stating that MSU has “experts who have already graduated who plan [MSU’s] ground cover – they make decisions based on lots of facts – [versus] urban myth.” The response cited many of the university’s accomplishments and problems, several of which were already mentioned in Foglesong’s Nov. 26 State-Gram titled “Time For Some Straight Talk.”
To these issues, which included everything from budgetary concerns to infrastructure replacement, the e-mail states, “Maybe you can give me some help on the major issues that I noted above.”
Cooper later reacted to the response.
“There are many pressing issues that require his attention,” Cooper said. “I should be worried about them, yet he is worried about a yellow flower.”
Cooper said he wondered why the president is paying people to remove a flower if the university’s funds are so tight.
“I’m not professional enough to give him landscape advice because the people he has have already graduated,” he said, “but he didn’t listen to our professors either, and they have PhDs.”
Cooper said his main concern involves the dismissal of the plant and maintenance advice offered in the e-mail as well as the overall tone in response to the situation.
“[It] says our concerns are based on ‘urban myths,’ yet [it] won’t say what we’ve gotten wrong,” he said. “The tone of the e-mail was very condescending and unprofessional.”
Cooper said removing the daffodils at the present time would not be prudent.
“At the time they’re removing the bulbs, it’s a horticulturally unsound decision,” he said.
The bulbs are getting ready to bloom, and removing them from the soil could damage their roots and prevent them from growing properly.
Brian Trader, assistant professor for plant and soil sciences, said the uprooted bulbs should be fine for several weeks.
Generally, the usual or best time to uproot the bulbs would be during the fall or after the flowers bloom, Trader said.
The daffodils would typically be blooming in two to three weeks, Trader said.
“The bloom time is dependent upon the variety, usually mid-February into March,” he said.
Trader said the bulbs can be difficult to remove and expensive to kill.
Several other plant and soil sciences professors declined to comment or did not return phone calls.
During her visit, Schultz asked that the workers hold the bulbs. Some of the bulbs are now by the greenhouses behind Dorman Hall where the Horticulture Club members are working to repot them.
Cooper said some of the bulbs that have been dug up have been given to the Horticulture Club.
Schultz said Jacqueline Van Zyverden, owner of Van Zyverden, Inc., in Meridian, donated many of the daffodil bulbs.
A third employee, who wished to remain anonymous, said the company donated the bulbs after their daffodil selling season.
The employee said it has been several years since the university has received or planted any donated daffodil bulbs from Van Zyverden, Inc.
Schultz, who contacted Van Zyverden to inform her about the daffodils, was the first to inform her about the decision.
“I was just hoping she could contact Foglesong and ask why her contribution was being destroyed,” Schultz said.
She said the subject of the daffodils seems like a small issue.
“I don’t want this thing to get huge, I just want it to stop,” Schultz said. “I just hate to see them wasted. There’s no reason for them to be removed.”
Cooper started “Save the MSU Daffodils!” Facebook group about the issue. He said he only invited 15 people but since then, the group has rapidly increased.
At last count, the group had 584 members.
Cooper said he started the group with the desire to keep daffodils on campus.
He said he does not want the group to be an attack on Mississippi State’s administration, faculty or staff.
C.J. LeMaster contributed to this story.