Celebrating a M-ilestone

IT CHANGES COLOR twice a year and even scooted across the street, but the famous floral M has bloomed at the University of Maryland as a campus constant for a half-century.

Formerly known as the M Circle, it took root at the intersection of Campus and Regents drives in 1976 to mark the nation’s bicentennial. In 2020, the M settled into its new home in front of the Mitchell Building to make way for the state’s light-rail Purple Line. Over the decades, it’s become one of the university’s most beloved landmarks and has served as the backdrop for countless Terp commencement photos.

Com-M-emorate its 50th anniversary with five flower-filled facts.

The M Circle debuted with red and white petunias raised by the horticulture department (now Plant Sciences and Landscape Architecture) on an elevated portion of the traffic circle. The physical plant department (now Facilities Management) formed a 33-foot-wide, 34-foot-tall Gothic M out of railroad ties.

Terps graduating in 1986 and ’87 let the M shine at night by contributing lights as their class gift, and new uplighting has been installed since the M’s move.

While other campus flower beds switch up their blooms, the M stays “tried and true” with its flower types, says R. Scott Rupert ’85, associate director of the arboretum and landscape services. A team fills the M with 900 bronze leaf red begonias in late spring, then yellow panolas, a viola-pansy hybrid, in late summer.

UMD never wanted to be without this landmark, so when it relocated, two Ms were temporarily visible at once; the original bloomed in the background as work continued to make the new one blossom.

A. James Clark School of Engineering faculty salvaged and dried wood from the willow oak trees around the first M Circle, which is now available for special projects. A UV printer will enable direct printing on the wood, says Assistant Dean of Strategic Operations and IT Jim Zahniser, and Terps can execute ideas at Terrapin Works’ Keystone Woodshop.

Click through the gallery spanning the birth of the M Circle to its magnificent new identity as the M: