On these fall rainy days, they act like nature’s umbrellas, shielding the surrounding plants from the drizzle. Everything about them is huge, even the fact that they’re a huge hit on campus.

Those giant leaves growing near Founders’ Hall and the library are known as elephant ears. They are a tropical plant, not one usually grown in a place like Ohio. In fact, they may be one of the earliest cultivated plants; their softball-sized bulbs are actually edible.

“[The elephant ears are] a very distinctive plant, and we actually opted for the giant variety,” said Rick Ewing, vice president of facilities management and planning.

If you look closely enough, you can see the smaller, black elephant ears speckled through the beds of strobilanthes (purple and green plants) as well. While they don’t have the impact of the larger green plants, they still provide a subtle extension of the “mammoth” landscaping theme.

In general, the goal of the grounds crew is to make an impact. Their work – while sometimes overlooked or underestimated – is one of the sole reasons why our campus consistently looks so good.

Andy Mills, a member of the grounds crew, and Toby White, grounds supervisor, are in charge of researching and selecting Ashland University’s landscaping pieces each year. What drew their eyes to the elephant ears was their mammoth size. While bigger may not always be better, large plants like the elephant ears really make them stick out.

“We go to Kingwood Center [Garden] and pretty much pick out whatever we think looks cool,” said White.

These enormous leaves can even have the effect of putting you in a different place. At night, the way the lights hit the leaves makes it feel like you’ve almost gone back in time.

“It feels like Jurassic Park [in] Ashland, Ohio,” senior Tom Julian said.

When there’s something too prominent to overlook, like the elephant ears, it gets people talking. You see, as the grounds crew is well aware, when the AU landscaping impresses prospective students, it makes their visit memorable.

“People touring the campus will remember the big plants and say, ‘Remember Ashland? That [campus] was really well taken care of,” Mills said. “Then the parents think, ‘That’s how my kid will be taken care of [there] too.'”

For many people, this might be the only place that someone will see a tropical plant like an elephant ear growing. Take it as you will, but maybe you can consider that to be an almost unintended way of achieving higher learning.

Faculty members at AU are usually quick to point out when the grounds crew has done a good job as well. In fact, President Dr. Fred Finks actually came to the facilities management building to hold a special meeting about the elephant ears last week; he loves them.

“Our grounds crew is an incredible group of talented and creative persons who continue to bring beauty and innovation to our campus through the use of flowers, plants and arrangements,” said Finks. “The introduction of the elephant ears outside of Founders’ and the library is an extension of their creativity.”

One of the strongest points of the grounds crew is their ability to constantly raise the bar. Just six years ago, impatiens (a very common flower; consequently, a relatively unimpressive one) were the only plants growing where the elephant ears are now. And while the ears may not have the aesthetic beauty of a simple flower, that’s not the goal. In general, Mills likes to select plants that impress him, because he knows that they will also impress the people on campus.

“The expectations get higher every year,” said Mills. “The more you raise the bar, the more that’s really expected.”

This isn’t actually the first time that the elephant ears have been grown here. They tried to grow them three years ago, but they didn’t get as large as they are this year. The summer weather was very favorable for the plants, and they just took off this year. White and Mills are looking into ways of keeping the bulbs and growing the large plants again in future years.

“[The elephant ears] are probably something that are going to be here to stay,” said White. “If we don’t, then people are going to say, ‘Where are the elephant ears?'”