What do you prefer to do on a day off?
For me, it's a "mini-vacation" to the UC Davis Bee Haven, the half-acre bee demonstration garden maintained by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology (ENT). Installed in the fall of 2009, it's located next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road, west of the central campus.
Today the garden was buzzing with honey bees and carpenter bees, and fluttering with cabbage white butterflies and fiery skippers. The pollinators especially liked:
- California fuchsia (Epilobium canum)
- Mexican sunflower (Tithonia rotundifola)
- Apricot mallow, aka desert globemallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua)
Just as we pulled into the parking lot, we noticed seniors from the Farmstead of Dixon bus enjoying lunch in the shade. They had just visited the garden and seen the six-foot-long worker bee sculpture, Miss Bee Haven, the work of self-described "rock artist" Donna Billick.
Another key attraction: the native bee mural on the garden tool shed, coodinated by former UC Davis doctoral student Sarah Dalrymple who worked with the co-founders and co-directors of the UC Davis Art-Science Fusion Program, artist-entomologist Diane Ullman of ENT (now UC Davis Distinguished Professor Emerita) and Billick.
"How did you like the garden?" I asked the seniors as they finished their lunches.
"We loved it!" they said.
And everyone loved the bee logo shirt worn by Farmstead of Dixon resident Alan Brattesoni, a retired chemist (PhD). Formerly of Davis, he operated Wizard Laboratories in Davis and West Sacramento.
The Haven
What is the Haven? Installed in the fall of 2009, it provides food and habitat for a variety of pollinators, including honey bees and native bees, while also serving as an educational and research resource. It features more than 200 native and drought-tolerant pollinator-supporting plants.
Director of the UC Davis Bee Haven is bee scientist Elina Niño, professor of UC Cooperative Extension, Apiculture, and a member of the faculty of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. She is also the founder and director of the UC Davis-based California Master Beekeeper Program (CAMBP).
Samantha Murray serves as the education and garden coordinator. The Bee Team also includes Joe Tauzer, manager of the Laidlaw facility; and Wendy Mather and Kian Nikzad, co-program managers of CAMBP.
The garden is open to the public from dawn to dusk. Admission is free.
Subscribe to The Haven Newsletter:
Email beehaven@ucdavis.edu.
Group Tours:
Contact the team at beehaven@ucdavis.edu for more information, or access its website at https://beehaven.ucdavis.edu/tours
Donate:
To donate to the UC Davis Bee Haven, access https://beehaven.ucdavis.edu/donate. Further informatoin is available from Cari DuBois-Wright, director of development, CA&ES, at caduboiswright@ucdavis.edu or 530-752-6971.
