Project Information
Project Overview:
When you think of Mizzou, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? For many, it’s the iconic image of Francis Quadrangle: the six columns and Jesse Hall, protected by the arboreal guard of 15 pin oak trees. The stately timbers act as a frame for campus’s most-photographed spot, but their health is declining.
That’s where the Friends of the Mizzou Botanic Garden (MUBG) come in. The group is working with several MU alumni and friends to plant the Legacy Oaks of Francis Quadrangle — a project more than four years in the making.
Project Budget:
$250,000
Project Timeline:
- Bid Due Date: April 3rd, 2025 at 1:30PM CDT
- Construction Start Date: November 30th, 2025
- Substantial Completion Date: October 2026
Closures & Maps:
View the Construction Impact Map
Project Photos:
A low-angle view of Jesse Hall through the grass.
The Buck's Unlimited Oak was developed at the Horticulture and Agroforestry Research Center in New Franklin as a variety of swamp white oak that produces more acorns, sooner. Many oaks do not produce a strong crop of nuts till 15 years, but the Buck's Unlimited Oak can produce acorns at year six. This allows growers a chance of a beneficial nut crop sooner for wildlife such as deer and turkey. Research involved Marc Coggeshall, MU assistant research professor of forestry, and other researchers to select varieties that showed more desirable traits. Grafts of scion wood became clones of the favorable trees. Photo by Kyle Spradley | © 2014 - Curators of the University of Missouri
Students with the School of Natural Resources learn from Hank Steltzer and Chris Starbuck as they prune the Legacy Oaks at MU South Farm Research Center. March 17, 2022. Hanna Caldwell/University of Missouri