Quantcast
Channel: danger garden
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 2742

Touring UC Davis Arboretum

$
0
0
Way back in April — three months ago! — I was in Davis, CA, at the UC Davis Arboretum. The reason for my visit was  PacHort board meeting, but we managed to get out in the afternoon and take a tour of the Arboretum with Warren Roberts, plantsman extraordinaire and Superintendent Emeritus of the UC Davis Arboretum.

My memory wants me to say this Callistemon rugulosus 'Violaceus' is a UC Davis introduction, but I don't think that's acutally the case..

Such is the problem with not taking notes during a tour and waiting so long to post. Life got in the way and I regret that.

Russelia equisetiformis, which I so wish I could plant in my garden.

As you saw in the intro photo the Arboretum was having a plant sale, but it didn't start until the next day. I missed it! Yes, it was painful.

Al those carts, ready to shop! And that tree...an Arbutus menziesii, aka Pacific madrone?

Flowers covered their Acca sellowiana (pineapple guava), mine didn't bloom until June.

It's not just an Arboretum, but is also a teaching nursery.

Did I mention Davis is the Agave americana var. medio-picta 'Alba' center of the universe? I think I did, in a previous Davis post, but it's worth mentioning again.
Agave americana var. striata

These tiles have quite the history. They've been to the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington D.C., and now they're in their permanent home at the Arboretum. Read their full story here.

They're the result of the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program and illustrate the diversity of plants and insects in California.

There's Warren himself, entertaining us with stories. We could have listened all day!

We eventually made our way to the Ruth Risdon Storer Garden, named after Dr. Ruth Storer, Yolo County’s first pediatrician and an avid gardener.

The garden features flowering perennials and small shrubs that are especially well suited to Central California Valley gardens. It's designed for year round color with low maintenance and water use. Roses and their companion plants figure large.

It's not all pretty flowers though!

The yellow flower is Hunnemannia fumariifolia, Mexican Tulip Poppy.

Hopefully Lorene Edwards Forkner, PacHort magazine editor, will forgive me for sharing this sweet image of her enjoying a rose, up close and personal.

I wonder if I should tell someone that's the wrong sign? That's not an Agave polyacantha, I'd call it an A. ovatifolia.

So much to explore!

Echium wildpretii in bloom.

And Scabiosa columbaria.

Unless I got my photos horribly confused (always a possibility), this is Leucophyllum frutescens.

As is this.

Later we wandered over to the open space I think of as the meadow.

It was near a parking lot, but the plantings definitely outshine the cars.

I've got two more UC Davis posts to share, hopefully next week. It really is an amazing plant-centric campus!

Weather Diary, July 19: Hi 72, Low 58/ Precip trace

All material © 2009-2018 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 2742

Trending Articles