In our last update on this project we let you know that a native wildflower mix would be planted here to allow our teams another growing season to eliminate the Bermuda grasses.

Our new field of native grasses is taking root and filling in what was once a little-used, high-maintenance lawn on the west side of campus, adjacent to our oak collection.

About 3 weeks after seeding we have germination at the Oak Grove Meadow! What you see in the photo below is a small Nasella pulchra. Now we wait, and irrigate as necessary if rain doesn’t come.

Last week the UC Davis Public Garden team put the finishing touches on the campus’s first landscape conversion project — the Shields Oak Grove Meadow. Congratulations to everyone involved in this team effort and to project manager Andrew Fulks, Director of the UC Davis Putah Creek Riparian Reserve!

This pilot project is already well on its way to completion thanks to a collaborative group of Public Garden team members including Andrew Fulks, Director of the Riparian Reserve. who is serving as project manager for this conversion effort. Dave Klippert and his Civil and Industrial Services team are now preparing the space for its sustainable, low-maintenance landscape by removing the grass and hauling the extra dirt away so that Matt Forrest’s team from Grounds and Landscape Services can retrofit the irrigation from sprinklers to drip.

The grass on the La Rue Road medians is now prepped for removal and conversion from a high-maintenance, high-water lawn, to a low-water, low-maintenance, beautiful landscape featuring plant selections from the UC Davis Arboretum All-Star program.

Another pilot conversion project is the Arboretum meadow turf conversion at Shields Oak Grove. This project continues moving forward as well.  Initial herbicide treatments took place last week just before the storms moved in.  The next step will be a retrofit of the irrigation system, followed by seeding around November 15 with purple needlegrass, a native California grass.

As part of the UC Davis Public Garden Initiative, the campus will undertake a master planning effort to redesign portions of the campus landscape to save money, improve campus aesthetics, and provide more opportunities for teaching, research, and community engagement.