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Blog & News Articles

Blog & News Articles

UC Davis students working on making their blueprint come to life in Hunt Hall Courtyard.

Hunt Hall Courtyard: A living laboratory and work in progress

Our community of students, faculty and staff are renovating the Hunt Hall Courtyard to reflect its new role as a living laboratory for landscape architecture students and a GATEway Garden for campus. The new design will include a small, grassy gathering area, a pathway, and, most importantly, each fall different plots will feature student-created projects, designed and built with faculty guidance, that highlight innovative materials, regionally-appropriate plants, and a variety of environmentally-friendly building techniques.

Students plant sustainable landscape outside Shields Library.

Sustainable horticulture students convert lawns and more

by Lauren Riebs
Communications Intern
Finance Operations and Administration

The UC Davis campus is always growing – literally! New gardens are sprouting up all over campus, thanks to the Learning by Leading Sustainable Horticulture program. Students are helping transform landscapes in the Arboretum and Public Garden into attractive and sustainable gardens that will thrive in the Davis climate.

SNEAK PEEK: Instinct / Extinct exhibit comes to UC Davis fall 2017

SNEAK PEEK: Instinct / Extinct exhibit comes to UC Davis fall 2017

Late spring, 2016, the Arboretum Ambassadors created about 100 acrylic feather prints on parchment, with the supervision of Design Professor Emerita Ann Savageau. These prints have now  become a part of the Instinct/Extinct— a multi-disciplinary art installation that explores and celebrates the biology, beauty and bounty of the Pacific Flyway, a major north-south flight path for migratory birds in America that extends from Alaska to Patagonia.  The installation is currently at the Grace Hudson Museum in Ukiah.

UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden volunteers working in front of Wyatt Deck.

5 reasons why fall is the best time to plant

Ever wonder why some plants in your yard seem to thrive more than others? Sure there are multiple factors at play, including plant quality, soil quality, sun exposure and location, but one of the most often overlooked issues is timing – when you plant makes all the difference.
Needles of Spanish fir

Introducing our one and only Spanish fir

There’s currently only one Spanish fir in the UC Davis Arboretum and it can be found in our Conifer Collection, behind the Arboretum Headquarters. This Spanish fir was acquired from the USDA Forest Service in 2001 and it’s one of the oddest specimens in the conifer collection.
Bayer Community Service Day

Community volunteers improve Arboretum’s Environmental Gateway

Bayer hosted their annual community service day on Friday, October 7, at the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden. Through a donation of $19,000 and more than 130 employee volunteers, Bayer showcased its commitment to supporting pollinator health and habitat development by assisting in the planting of over 2,000 wildflowers, shrubs, and trees, completing a garden path and helping create a mosaic art feature that will soon be embedded in a pathway near the Arboretum Gazebo.
Image of woman with short gray hair and sunglasses tending to plants at the UC Davis Arboretum Teaching Nursery.

Volunteers, students put their green thumbs to work

  • by Katie Hetrick

As seen in the Davis Enterprise

Several times a year, the Friends of the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden invite members and the public to shop from one of the area’s largest selections of attractive, low-water, easy-care plants at their teaching nursery.

Over the course of four hours, dozens of short-term volunteers work to fulfill the needs of numerous new, experienced or even hesitant gardeners interested in finding the plants that look great and support our environment.

Ria de Grassi's lawn

Life after lawn advice: Shop the Arboretum plant sales

Ria takes the commitment to water savings seriously; first renovating her backyard two years ago, and last fall tackling her front yard. Birch trees and high-water turf were removed. Now this east-facing front yard features subtly sloped areas behind two curved walls. This additional hardscape creates a structure for spreading mats of white lantana and red verbena whose long-lasting blooms add color and attract a variety of butterflies.
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