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Landscape Services

Duke hosts a diverse and beautiful landscape comprised of quads, open lawns, athletic fields, gardens and plazas. Maintaining this landscape requires reseeding of lawns, replacement of dead trees, pruning of shrubs, planting and caring for the variety of flowers found around campus, as well as an in-depth knowledge of horticulture to provide for the needs of each species of plant properly.

Scott Thompson serves as the Director of Landscape Services for Facilities Maintenance. He leads a staff of approximately 50 employes made up of Horticulturists, Landscape Specialists and Grounds Equipment Operators who provide comprehensive maintenance of 626 acres of campus landscape and hardscape for the University and Health System, including:

Services

Grounds Services is comprised of the following units which are defined by their functions below. These units provide a range of services to the University and Medical Center. To access any service provided by the trades, submit a Service Request or call the Customer Service Center at (919) 684-2122.

Accent Plantings

Our Accent Planting team provides planting special interest plants campus wide throughout the seasons through specific forms, textures, colors, etc. They are dedicated to beautifying the University and Medical Center landscape through enhancement beautification program.

Groundcover & Shrub Maintenance

Our Shrub/Groundcover Maintenance team is responsible for the health and care of Duke’s shrub by pruning trimming, weeding, edging, and other work required in the specifications.

Integrated Pest Management & Irrigation

Our IPM and Irrigation team monitors plant pest problems (insects and diseases) and treating them appropriately. The irrigation team is here to provide maintain horticulturally acceptable growth and color and to promote deep rooting in specified area on campus.

Tree Care

Our Tree Care team provides general tree maintenance within the compounds of the University. Our workers provide services which include: chipping brush, cutting wood, and site cleanup after tree care operations among various services.

Turf Maintenance

Turf Maintenance is here to assist the University with ground care in the Medical Center, West Campus, East Campus and Athletic fields.

Grounds Repair Shop

The Grounds Repair Shop performs maintenance on over 400 pieces of equipment for our Grounds Unit. This unit coordinates the purchase of new equipment and purges seldom-used equipment and tools from inventory. We oversee the contract maintenance of over 160 Facilities Management vehicles. Before vehicles are sent out to shops, we evaluate the severity of the situation. Thus, eliminating unnecessary expenditures and expediting necessary fixes. This shop also helps with the training of personnel on safe use of equipment such as the coordination of the Annual Winter Rodeo. This event has proven to be and important training tool for our Grounds workers and has been a tremendous benefit to the Department.