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Image of a Japanese Zelkova tree with sunlight shining through its branches, surrounded by precautionary snow fencing in the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden.

Crack Discovered in Trunk of Iconic Campus Tree

  • by Katie Hetrick
  • Tue, September 12, 2023
The expansive Japanese Zelkova (Zelkova serrata), which has graced the banks of Lake Spafford in the UC Davis Arboretum since the 1960s, grew to serve as a popular gathering place for picnics, wildlife viewing, family photos and more until the recent discovery of a large crack in its trunk. Experts studying the issue determined it is in danger of breaking apart and poses a significant hazard.
Drying concrete in the aisle between rows of plants

Nursery Improvements in Progress

  • Wed, August 23, 2023

Inside the Arboretum Teaching Nursery, the new Elizabeth Mary Wolf Environmental Learning Center has been buzzing with activity since its soft opening earlier this year.

This summer, we’ve turned our efforts to upgrading outdoor areas of the Arboretum Teaching Nursery. Smooth concrete now covers the major path arteries that customers use to navigate the nursery. We’ve also enhanced the smaller paths with hexpave and gravel. All of this means cleaner shoes, great traction, easier pulling of loaded carts and...plant sales rain or shine!

Volunteer group photo

‘Pollinator Squad’ Volunteer Team Spotlight

  • by Ann Filmer
  • Tue, August 15, 2023

Selecting climate-ready plants and appropriate plants for insect pollinators and hummingbirds is a major goal of Rachel Davis, GATEways Horticulturist for the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden. The ‘Pollinator Squad’, her group of 15 volunteers, meets weekly to develop and manage the Habitat Gardens, including the meadow basin; the Hummingbird Garden; an Insect Pollinator garden; and the bioswale which runs through the meadow basin.

Group of Arboretum volunteers at Annie's Annuals

Volunteer Field Trip to Annie’s Annuals and Perennials

  • by Ann Filmer
  • Tue, August 15, 2023

Two of Abbey Hart’s volunteer teams took a field trip to Annie’s Annuals and Perennials Nursery in Richmond last month. The goal was to see the broad variety of plants that the nursery grows and sells — annuals, perennials, native plants, landscape plants, herbs and vegetables, etc., — and to allow the volunteers to purchase plants. Some of the Arboretum volunteers had been there before; for others it was an eye-popping first-time experience.

Debbie Tucker's garden

Face Your Fears Gardening

  • by Debbie Tucker
  • Tue, August 15, 2023
There are many kinds of gardens. Ours is like a big living room. It is full of art (I’m a painter), pottery (my husband is a potter), places to sit, sun and shade. But it wasn’t always that way. And this is why.
Karen Slinkard posing in front of the Arboretum Waterway

What Arboretum Walks Can Reveal

  • by Sienna Miranda Mata
  • Mon, May 01, 2023

“It’s all about plants, everything comes back to plants.” At least that’s Karen Slinkard’s philosophy (and the Arboretum and Public Garden team tends to agree).

Karen — a two-time UC Davis alum, active Davis community member and Master Gardener — and her husband Stephen have made a generous donation to create an endowment fund supporting the Learning by Leading™ student internship program and also made a current use pledge to be used over five years, also in support of the program.

Person using a chainsaw to trim a large limb from a tree

Apply by May 7, 2023: Tree Maintenance Supervisor

  • Tue, April 11, 2023
Oversee the maintenance of the gorgeous campus urban canopy that serves the entire UC Davis community, from students to squirrels at the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden, where every career employee receives extremely competitive health and retirement benefits.
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