UC Davis Arboretum plant sale April 9 and 30, first in-person events since before Covid

This Saturday, April 9, 2022, will be the first in-person plant sale at the UC Davis Arboretum Teaching Nursery since fall 2019. Covid-19 killed the spring 2020 sales, and all sales since then have been online only. Being able to shop in person once again is a big deal!

Because of the space constraints caused by construction of the new Elizabeth Mary Wolf Environmental Learning Center on the grounds of the Arboretum Teaching Nursery, the two 2020 spring sales, April 9 and April 30, will be for Friends of the UC Davis Arboretum members only. The growing grounds, and hence the number of plants for sale, aren’t affected, but there’s much less room available for checkout. If you’re not a member, you can join online ahead of time or at the door. The sale runs from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on both days, April 9 and April 30.

To give you an idea of what plants will be available, download the inventory for the April 9 sale (Excel | PDF). The list has 670 entries for a total of 21,307 individual plants in categories such as Shrubs, Biennials, Bulbs, California Native Plants, California Native Plants/Shade, Grasses, Herbs, Perennials, Shade Plants, Succulents, Trees, and Vines.

I was at a pre-sales event today and took some snapshots in the succulent aisles. There is a big selection of soft-leaved succulents, such as echeverias (35 varieties) and sedums (almost 30 varieties):

Sedum nussbaumerianum and Echeveria ‘Blue Bird’

Aeonium hybrid and Graptopetalum ‘Murasaki’

Graptopetalum ‘Murasaki’

Echeveria ‘Purple Pearl’

×Graptosedum ‘Vera Higgins’

A rainbow of sedums

Sedum ‘Ayers Rock’

Hylotelephium spectabile ‘Elsies Gold’

The aloe selection isn’t huge, only 8 different species and hybrids, but there are some really nice big specimens:

Aloe ‘David Verity’

Aloe ‘Caitlin’

Aloe rubroviolacea

Other spiky plants include two Dasylirion species, a few yuccas, and this Puya coerulea var. violacea:

As in previous years, the selection of mangaves is particularly impressive. Here are some:

×Mangave ‘Center of Attention’

×Mangave ‘Racing Stripes’

×Mangave ‘Painted Desert’

×Mangave ‘Sponge Paint’

×Mangave ‘Frosted Elegance’

The inventory lists ×Mangave ‘Aztec King’, ×Mangave ‘Black Magic’, ×Mangave ‘Blazing Saddles’, ×Mangave ‘Center of Attention’, ×Mangave ‘Frosted Elegance’, ×Mangave ‘Man of Steel’, ×Mangave ‘Moonglow’, ×Mangave ‘Painted Desert’, ×Mangave ‘Racing Stripes’, ×Mangave ‘Snow Leopard’, and ×Mangave ‘Sponge Paint’ as well as ×Hansara ‘Jumping Jacks’, Manfreda undulata ‘Cherry Chocolate Chip’, and Manfreda undulata ‘Mint Chocolate Chip’.

For more information about this sale, go to the UC Davis Arboretum Plant Sale page.

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I won't be able to go to the April 9 sale, but here is my modest haul from the pre-sales event I attended:

• Aspidistra elatior 'Variegata'
• Dudleya palmeri
• Hydrangea quercifolia 'Little Honey'
• Sedum adolphii 'Firestorm'
• Senecio confusus

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