Succulents and More™

The UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden is one of the great treasures of the Sacramento area. It’s seamlessly integrated into the campus and is open 24/7 – no fixed hours and no entrance fees. It’s the perfect place to go for a stroll, run, walk the dog, take a picnic. Because of that, it’s used as much by the public as by the students. Near the western end of the Arboretum is the Arboretum Teaching Nursery . That’s where staff, students, and community volunteers grow plants both for the Arboretum collections and for the wildly popular plant sales. Typically, there are six plant sales a year: three in the spring and three in the fall. The first sale of the season will be this coming Saturday, September 30 , from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The first two hours are for members only; the public can shop from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Members not only get in early, they also get a 10% discount on all plant purchases. You can join online or in person at the door. Last week, nursery manager Taylor Lewis w...

Part 1 of our tour of Ben’s garden in the Berkeley Hills ended with a photo of Ben standing in front of the beautiful bamboo you see below: Walking up the stairs, the first thing I noticed – after tearing myself away from the bamboo – were three trees in tall urns, two banksias and one Cussonia paniculata : The vertical effect is fantastic. As is the color of the wall. The stone art on the wall is by Glasgow stonemason Moray Henderson. Sobralia virginalis , a large terrestrial orchid from South America: On our way to the top of the hill, I stopped frequently to take in the views: Haitian metal art inlaid and Ancestral Pueblo pottery shards in the concrete walkway: Another octopus sighting: Potted Dudleya virens ssp. hassei : Poky yucca and its shadow: San Pedro cactus (Trichocereus pachinoi ) and Leucadendron ‘Ebony’: Aloidendron ‘Hercules’: Apart from the plants and the views, the rock work done by Ignacio Medina was my favorite feature: Every rock had to be hauled up the slope a...