"One evening on an adventure to tour the Storer Garden to get plant ideas, we saw next to the garden a camel being led! We did a double take—the camel being eight feet tall—and it really was a camel. Only in Davis would you see a camel in the Arboretum," said Nancy Foster, Arboretum Volunteer.

"I was there when we were in the Storer Garden and saw the camel on June 12, 2009. I joined Warren Roberts for a “Walk with Warren” three weeks later and mentioned the camel sighting. He too had seen the camel and had checked with the Vet School to see if they knew anything about it. Warren said they told him that the camel had had surgery and was recovering when we saw it walking just west of Storer," said Chuck Foster.

My first encounter with the Arboretum was April 2009. I had won a free flight to Davis and I was determined to go and visit this famous arboretum. I visited and fell in love with it. It’s because of the Arboretum that I decided to attend this university. So the Arboretum basically shaped my future!  I LOVE the Arboretum.

My interest in acacias really started about 1960 when I was studying the formation and metabolism of cyanogenic compounds—compounds that release hydrogen cyanide when a plant’s cellular structure is disrupted, e.g. when eaten by animals. When I learned that acacias are cyanogenic, I approached Roman Gankin, the Arboretum superintendent, and asked him to consider increasing the acacia collection. Roman was very accommodating.

Ryan Deering is now keeping an eye on the acacia collection. He even has a few seedlings of Acacia conniana that he hopes will be hardy enough to withstand our occasional winter temperatures in the low 20s.

Here’s how the name came about: In Australia, there were two species of Acacia cognata that had the same name, one in New South Wales and one in Western Australia. I had shown that both species were cyanogenic and wanted to publish this information in a paper on Australian cyanogenic acacia species. Imagine my surprise when my friend Bruce Maslin, the authority on Western Australian acacias, sent me a paper in which he renamed the western species Acacia conniana after me.

I have observed Donna Billick's community work for many years and wished I could participate so that I could see how she coordinates many people to produce such marvelous cooperative pieces. Being invited to participate in the Art/Science Fusion project as an Arboretum volunteer was a perfect opportunity.

Donna suggested I make a big tile depicting Candy Tuft 'Little Gems', and then before I knew it, Donna sliced pieces off and gave them to two other volunteers to help make Little Gems. Just like that, we were cooperating. And although it was hard for me to not be in control, it all worked out. All three of us made flower clusters, I made most of the background leaves and glazed them, someone else added an insect, and another person put the pieces together and put the grout between the sections. Our one tile was indeed a group effort!

My husband and I got married at Putah Creek Lodge in the Arboretum on August 8, 1987. The morning ceremony took place on a gorgeous summer day, under the trees at the west end of the lawn; everything was serenely perfect. Even the ducks waddling around in front of the wedding party were charming.

As we began to recite our sacred vows, a very high-powered motorized model boat suddenly started zipping back and forth across the water directly in front of us. The boat operator was out of sight somewhere down the path, so I am sure he/she didn't realize the disruption to our special day. Our family and friends didn't hear a single word of our vows. After nearly 25 years together, we still laugh about our perfect wedding at the arboretum.

I graduated in 1961.  When I started in 1957, UC Davis had about 2,200 students, fewer than my current high school had at it's prime.  I believe I entered the second year that the College of Letters and Science was in existence.  Prior to that, Davis was all agriculture engineering and home ec.  When I graduated in 1961, Davis had grown to about 5,000.

1960 was a leap year.  The tradition was that every four years, February 29 was called "Labor Day".  Each residence unit (dorm floors, fraternities, off campus) was assigned a work party detail somewhere on campus.  I remember some cleaning barns, clearing trash, etc.  In 1960, many residence units were assigned to "plant the arboretum".  

At that time, Putah Creek was a tiny trickle on the outer edge of campus.  It certainly was not a destination or a beauty spot on campus.  It was muddy in the winter and bred mosquitoes in the summer.  In February. the ground was soft from the rain.  That particularly day was cold and drizzly, too.  We were given hoes, rakes and shovels and many trees, some bare root and some in 5 gallon buckets, each an exotic species.  Each residence unit was given a specific area to clean out and plant.  

It was a day of team building and camaraderie that culminated in a campus barbeque on the quad, all of us rubbing sore muscles unused to that type of work.  Even though I don't remember exactly where 5th floor Malcolm planted trees, when I returned for Picnic Day, 2011 to celebrate my 50th year reunion, I walked the arboretum with a sense of pride and wonder about the vision that created such a lovely space on campus so many years ago

In June of 2009, we were married at the Putah Creek Lodge in the Arboretum. We had the ceremony under the large oak tree in the meadow behind the Lodge and the reception on the patio of the Lodge. We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day and place. The grass was green, the trees were full, and all the flowers were blooming. It was beautiful. We both grew up here and have spent much time in the Arboretum and getting married there seemed like the perfect way to celebrate the Arboretum and our love. Thank you for letting us enjoy it!

I love running and walking through the Arboretum. Whenever I want to really talk to a friend I go to the Arboretum to talk. I love looking at all the different gardens and rolling in the soft grass. The Arboretum is such a peaceful place to me. It is so important to have a whimsical place to breathe and de-stress in the high-speed college environment.

In the mid-1850s my maternal great-great-grandparents, Dr. and Mrs. Isaac Denton Stockton, drove their wagon train through what is now the south side of the UC Davis Arboretum on their way from “back East” to their new home in Two Rock, Marin County. Their group included some covered wagons, of course, a herd of milk cattle, yoke oxen, horses, other pioneers, and the elder half of their 19 children. There is nothing in writing about their passage along this part of the immigrant trail but they would likely have been impressed by the ancient valley oaks which are still standing in the UC Davis Arboretum as witnesses to history.

Years ago, I was helping the son of a neighbor get rid of her extensive potted cactus collection. Marilynn Vilas and I borrowed Nancy Crosby’s pickup so we could take the plants over to the Arboretum nursery. We had to use a dolly to move one large opuntia plant. We couldn’t get the tailgate closed, but we thought the weight of the plant and dolly would keep everything in place.

Everything was fine as we drove along Fifth Street until we hit a dip around A Street. The cactus shot out the back, on its dolly. Traffic behind us luckily was able to screech to a halt. A young man ran up to help us, and we did get to the nursery, cracking jokes about Lucy and Ethel all the way.

My comments about the Arboretum are more historical than current.  When I entered UC Davis as a freshman in 1939, Putah Creek was lined with cottonwood trees where it crossed the campus.  There was discussion about developing an Arboretum and I believe a few plants had been set out near the A Street bridge.

The winter of 1939-1940 was very wet, with some flooding on the campus.  On Leap Year day of 1940 no classes were scheduled so a campus Labor Day was held.  The student body assembled to work at assigned tasks.  The men were to clear Putah Creek of the trash left by flooding.  I took some snapshots with my Brownie box camera showing some of the guys working.  Many years later I gave those snaps to Warren Roberts for the Arboretum archives.  Other tasks that Labor Day included laying water lines to the football field.  The coeds fixed and served picnic lunch on the Quad for the hungry workers.  Quite a day!

With encouragement and participation of the Botany department and campus staff, design planning and planting continued along the creek banks.  The early plantings were behind the campus firehouse, where there was access to water for irrigation.  There was question whether coast redwood trees would survive in the heat of the Central Valley, and Dr. Elliott Weier was interested to test that case, so seedling were propagated  and planted.  Unfortunately, during the Army occupation of the campus from 1942 to 1945, the Arboretum area was neglected and most of the new plantings died.  Planting and care started again when the campus was returned to the University.

So, when you admire the handsome redwoods and enjoy their cool shade on a hot day, you can appreciate the tenacity of the people and the plants that represent the beginnings of the Arboretum.

You can tell that I have deep personal ties to the Arboretum.

The Arboretum is an enormous classroom, rich with opportunities to learn about our local wildlife as well as plants from many regions of the world. 

Perhaps the most important critters to know about are the ones that make it possible for us to have a diversity of beautiful flowers in our landscapes and to have many of the fruits and vegetables that we enjoy. We owe so much to the critters that are pollinators.

In Spring of 2017 a small team of Arboretum Volunteers and University of California Master Gardeners studied alongside the Arboretum's Director of Horticulture, Ellen Zagory, to learn about key pollinators—bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. We had great fun and learned so much over the course of several months of classroom work and field observation.

This initial team formed what has become the Pollinator Education team. The initial group went on to train additional Arboretum volunteers and UC Master Gardeners so that we could expand our educational outreach beyond the Arboretum Plant Sales. I hope you have visited our display tables and talked with us about the best plants to use in your garden to ensure that they will support a variety of pollinators across all the seasons. Perhaps you have also visited our information tables at special community events or read our educational materials on the Arboretum website.

It has been one of my greatest pleasures and rewarding experiences to partner with these talented, knowledgeable volunteers. I thank them for being plant nerds, being concerned about our natural environment, and finding joy in talking with others about the things we care about.

Angelica Sauceda, Winnie Lau, Kylie Crisostomo-Rickman, Deana Cai, Kimberly Au, Elise Chu, and Mei Chau

After learning how to measure using a Transect tape and properly map plants at North Coast, me and my team took a group photo.

Winnie, Kylie, Deana, Elise, Angelica, Mei, and Kim

Starting from left to right, this is the LxL Plant Records & Mapping team from the Joint Training Day in the beginning of Fall Quarter. This was our first time truly getting to know each other.

This photo was taken in the Arboretum Oak Grove. The people in the photo are my dad Yaohe (left), my sister Vivien (middle), and me(right). My dad came visit me and my sister during Christmas break and I missed him so much!