In conversations with Washington University’s thriving botanical community, one man comes up more than any other: Cody Azotea.

Throw out your coffee, the only wake-up Washington University students need is the pungent smell of freshly laid mulch!

Spring at Washington University is indie W.I.L.D., moody rain showers, spontaneous tornadoes, painfully lovely sunshine when finals are around the corner and—most consistently—Wash. U.’s many flowerbeds in bloom. Just how much effort is put into making plants a part of Wash. U.’s aesthetic?