June 8, 2026
‘Small and mighty’ – and made of flowers: Ferris State landscaping team creates colorful gateways to campus and community
Like artists who paint with flowers, Ferris State University’s landscape team creates colorful displays greeting hundreds of drivers.
And each year the team challenges itself to come up with bold new designs for a hill on Perry Avenue near 215th Avenue, a campus and community tradition.
The design planning was taken over by Facilities team member Richard Coby after he assisted a former employee with planting the iconic Ferris State torch logo on the hill nearly two decades ago.
“My old coworker was struggling with making it look worthy, so I decided to help and lay it out with paint for him, and it turned out well,” Coby said. “It was quite a few years later that I took over planting the hill.”
He confessed that his grounds crew team pushed back at times on letting him try to plant challenging yet unique designs each year moving forward. Eventually, he received the green light to plant a map of the state of Michigan – and the rest was history.
Coby, who received his associate degree in Horticulture from the university, began working in 1996 and switched over to the grounds crew in 2003. His creativity even led to him being a recipient of the Michigan Landscape and Nursery Association’s Top Student Award in 2012.
“Although Michigan map was my first. It took on a different meaning the second time I placed it on the hill since it was around the time COVID hit,” he said. “I wrote ‘STRONG’ aside the map instead of “FSU”, hence themes now came into play.”
Coby (back row) has been thrilled to have Ferris State students help him seen over the past years, as this year included Jackson Altwies (left), Dylann Kelly (middle), and Hope Davies (right).
With more time to learn about what worked and what needed improvement, Coby started to tinker with emphasizing how much each design stood out. He’s also kept in mind how to include the Bulldog community entirely so as not to leave out any person, sports team, or group.
“The inspiration I get each year is what I feel people need to know or recognize about Ferris State,” he said.
Coby typically has a team of four to five students who help him plant on the hill each year. As of this past week, his team wrapped up this year’s design that features a Bulldog lurking inside a house structure. He received helped from Jackson Altwies, Dylann Kelly, and Hope Davies.
He said his inspiration was sparked by the idea of the Bulldog patiently yet mysteriously waiting to reveal himself to lead Ferris State’s next great adventure.
“(It creates the thought of) ‘when will the Bulldog reappear and help Ferris stand out again?’ Let’s inspire great ideas to bring him out, and let him lead with purpose and drive,” Coby said. “Everything he represents is both small and mighty.”
As an alumnus and employee for decades, Coby has enjoyed giving back to the same institution he received his higher education from.
However, he knows that all the years of having the opportunity to express his horticulture knowledge and creativity will come to an end soon, at least on an official level, as he plans to retire within the next year.
Coby hopes that the unique design tradition will be carried on by his successor as he also intends to leave behind a list of potential ideas for whomever it is.