I have loved the University Arboretum and its ancient oaks ever since my first visit to the University of California Davis Campus on a warm, dusty Picnic Day in 1958.

Now this treasure of U.C.D. is called University of California - Davis - Arboretum and Public Garden, but when it was begun on 29 February 1936, Cal Aggie Labor Day, this was the first and only arboretum of the University of California, hence the original name. What is now called UC Davis was then called “The University Farm”.

We have come a long way!

Photo above shows the Food Technology float at the 1958 UC Davis Picnic Day, courtesy of UC Davis Food Science and Technology