Contemporary landscapers have built on Howard Jensen’s basic design for Van Vleet Oval to produce one of the most beautiful and aesthetically pleasing vistas on campus. In the fall thousands of chrysanthemums are planted between the Seed Sower statue and the Pitman Parterre. Each year the chrysanthemums are arranged in new designs. This spectacular arrangement has become one of the most anticipated events for the alumni, OU family, the local community and the state, and especially for the thousands of football fans attending the home games. To provide funding for each new fall design, an endowment was created by the late OU alumnus Morris R. Pittman along with his son and daughter, Russ Pittman and Jill Pittman Jones.



OU First Lady Molly Shi Boren and Julie Cohen, the director of OU landscaping and grounds, prepare to view the chrysanthemum design of the Pitman Family South Oval Garden from a higher vantage point.



The OU landscape department members are photographed following the completion of the fall 2005 chrysanthemum design of the Pitman Family South Oval Garden.