Kelvin Kuo

In December, the Arbor Day Foundation recognized Tech’s management of its thousands of trees and work to promote environmental stewardship among students by naming the Institute a Tree Campus USA university for a second consecutive year. Keeping the campus’ 400 acres lush and litter-free is a 45-member staff led by the fittingly named Hyacinth Ide, Facilities landscape manager since 1999.

1. Is there a story behind your name?

There’s not a technical, botanical correlation there. My family had a friend called Hyacinth, so when I was born they just named me after him. And somehow I ended up in this business, dealing with flowers and plants.

2. What’s a typical day on the job like for you?

I don’t believe there is a typical day. We probably should’ve been named grounds department because we maintain all the plant materials, and we also maintain all the streets and sidewalks. We have a street sweeper that sweeps the street, potholes that we have to fix. If it’s major road construction, then we hire a contractor, but it’s still under our care. The street signs you see, we make them here. If there’s a busted pipeline or steam line, my crew, the construction crew, handles the digging and restores the site. Plus the tree work.

3. Is there anything your staff doesn’t do?

The only area that is hands off is the Greek area. Can’t do anything about Greek. In fact, one time I tried, and I was called by my superior and told, “That’s not your job.” We still have those alleyways to clean up, so I can’t avoid it. Sometimes I do knock on the door, especially when they make a mess on the sidewalk.

4. What can people do to keep campus looking its best?

Well, the number one would be to utilize our trash cans because we spend a lot of time picking up trash. In fact, when we compute the hours, we spend over $300,000 a year picking up trash on campus. And number two, using the sidewalks. If they do those things, it would be very helpful. And, of course, using the cigarette urns, i.e. the ashtrays.

5. About how many flowers are planted each year?

The flower program, which we call the color program, has been very, very reduced. In 2007, 2008, we didn’t plant at all because of the drought. We planted 619 flats of flowers in the fall because landscape services’ function is to make sure that the campus looks beautiful and attractive for people. When they come, they should feel comfortable, happy to be here. It’s important that we maintain a multi-culture of plant materials. When possible, you want to make sure there is green and color every season. That should be the ideal. But we have some people that think having a beautiful campus is not important. Some of them are very vocal. They forget about the importance of a nice environment. Most people would like a nice environment.

6. Do you have a favorite spot on campus?

I always think that is the administration area because of its mature landscape. You have big trees. In fact, in the summer months when you get over there, especially if you’re coming from somewhere else, you feel like you’re not in Atlanta. I’ve been told by visitors, “Wow, it’s so good.”

7. How many trees are there on campus now?

We have 7,023.

8. What’s the oldest tree?

We’re guessing that it’s the [water oak] over by the Student Center and Skiles. We’re guessing it’s over 100 years old.

9. Is there an overall philosophy to the landscaping plan?

The main philosophy of Georgia Tech today is to have a landscape that will reduce and, if possible, eliminate run-off water from going into the storm drain but also to capture it and use it as irrigation water. … Most of our systems in the new buildings have what we call cisterns, underground containers that collect drainage from rainwater as well as condensate from air-conditioning units. We use that to water our plants.

10. You’ve also worked at Tuskegee University and Emory University. Are there any challenges unique to the Tech campus?

Here at Georgia Tech, which is a little bit different from other institutions, students tend to walk in a straight line, no matter what you do. Maybe it’s because of all the calculations they are doing. They just walk straight. So if you have a grassy area in front of you, they’re going to walk through it. They have a class that way, they’re going to walk through the grass. And if you put a sidewalk there, the next semester they’ll probably walk a different way.