Pollinator-friendly Landscaping

New landscapes provide important pollinator habitat

On the west side of the UC Davis Arboretum, close to its teaching nursery and near the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, is the largest Arboretum garden expansion in decades. The area features a variety of demonstration gardens and landscapes that highlight ecological solutions to common urban impact problems including water pollution, ground water depletion, and pollinator habitat loss.

Arboretum landscape turns laboratory

Dr. Rachel Vannette and lab members are studying microscopic organisms in the nectar of California fuchsia (Epilobium canum). They want to know if the microscopic composition of the nectar varies throughout the flowers’ age and whether it changes as a result of being exposed to pollinators.

Life after lawn: Replace your lawn and feed the world?

Now, as landscapes are being revamped due to the drought, and lawns are removed or let go, the UC Davis campus, the city and its residents are in a position to serve as an example of how urban areas — particularly urban areas in the heart of agricultural country — can support global crop production through small changes in landscape choices.

Where are the bees and the butterflies?

On May 11, 2015, Ellen Zagory, director of public horticulture for the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden, was featured along with Dr. Eric Mussen, internationally known bee expert and Extension apiculturist at UC Davis, in a radio interview on KALW in San Francisco.