Blog & News Articles

Over the next couple of days  (Friday, September 26, 2014 through early the following week of  September 28, 2014) a portion of Garrod Drive just off La Rue Road leading to the Arboretum Teaching Nursery, will be closed with a detour in place.

Our own GATEways Horticulturist Stacey Parker received an award from our campus safety services unit for making a contribution to improve the culture of safety at UC Davis!

NEED A LAWN REPLACEMENT?

This deep-rooted, low-water use, low-maintenance groundcover is an excellent lawn replacement or groundcover in sun or partial shade. It grows tightly to the ground, suppressing weeds once established, and is bred to be sterile so it will not reseed in places where you don’t want it.

At the request of the Governor's office, Taylor Lewis, horticulturist and nursery manager, together with Haven Kiers, special projects manager and lecturer for the campus’s landscape architecture program, will represent the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden at the Water Preparedness event to provide attendees with resources to “waterwise” their landscapes.

Thanks to Dr. John M. Tucker, professor of botany, director of the Arboretum (1965-66 and 1972-84), and a prominent oak researcher, the UC Davis Arboretum is home to one of the largest and most diverse oak collections in the country, focusing on trees from the southwest U.S., Mexico, and the Mediterranean region. Our collection includes about 100 species, varieties, and hybrids.

In spring of 2014, Assistant Director Carmia Feldman was appointed to the Board of Directors of our national professional organization, the American Public Gardens Association (APGA), as a Director-at-Large. Carmia was also asked to join the Program Selection Committee, so for the next two years, in addition to her board duties, Carmia will be helping to solicit and select presentations for the annual meetings.

Whether running, walking, or riding, Arboretum visitors will have a smoother time getting around thanks to road and path maintenance funding from our campus Transportation and Parking Services (TAPS) unit.

Find out the answer to this question and many more when visiting the California Rock Garden–a Geology GATEway Garden. Exhibit signage and labels for all of the incredible rock specimens that were once located throughout the state of California and now reside around the UC Davis Earth and Planetary Sciences building, make visiting this GATEway garden even more enjoyable.

Last winter and spring, our newly constructed Arboretum GATEway Garden teamed up with student interns, loyal volunteers, hundreds of community members, as well as Arboretum and Public Garden staff who planted over 25,000 grasses, rushes, sedges, wildflowers, shrubs, and trees—all native to our lower Putah Creek region.

Students from our Edible Landscape Internship were featured recently on the UC Davis home page (see above). This group of students, the newest members of the Arboretum and Public Garden’s “Learning by Leading” program, are working to develop, maintain, program, and support edible landscapes throughout campus including the UC Davis Good Life Garden, plots in the Experimental College garden, and the Salad Bowl Garden just outside of the Plant and Environmental Sciences building, just to name a few.

Early in 2014, teams from the Arboretum and Public Garden, including Grounds and Landscape Services, assembled to plant the northernmost section of the La Rue Road median with plants selected for their seasonal interest, water-wise qualities and long-term durability. When selecting the plants used for this project, Ellen Zagory, director of public horticulture, also wanted to make sure the flora blended well with surrounding landscapes.

UC Davis has been named “Tree Campus USA” for the fifth* year in a row by the Arbor Day Foundation! The Tree Campus USA program recognizes college and university campuses that effectively manage their campus trees, develop connectivity with the community beyond campus borders to foster healthy urban forests, and strive to engage their student population utilizing service learning opportunities centered on campus, and community forestry efforts.

Our Grounds and Landscape Services supervisor team received an honorable mention award in for their outstanding “Campus Community Contributions”  by the UC Davis Staff Assembly’s Citations of Excellence Committee! They were celebrated at the Citations of Excellence Award Ceremony on May 21, 2014.

This year, Chancellor Linda Katehi created a new STAR Award to recognize staff members who have made significant contributions to UC Davis in areas such as fostering a bold and innovative spirit, partnering in economic development, and promoting community. We are thrilled that Emily Griswold, our Director of GATEways Horticulture and Teaching Gardens, was one of 11 people to receive this first-ever recognition for her tireless work to grow and care for the Arboretum’s collections and develop new gardens in collaboration with academic and community partners.

The Sustainability Showcase, located in one of the main hallways of the Memorial Union, features revolving exhibits highlighting actions our campus units have taken to improve our sustainability. The exhibits may be about conserving our natural resources, being creative with our reuse, engaging with the community, or all of the above.