Have you visited the UC Davis Bee Haven lately?
It's thriving with more plants, more pollinators, and more projects since its renovation launched last summer.
The half-acre bee friendly demonstration garden, installed in the fall of 2009 on Bee Biology Road, is located next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility. The garden is open from dawn to dusk. Admission is free. On weekends, parking is free. On weekdays, the first hour of parking is free, according to the UC Davis Transportation Services.
The Vacaville Museum Guild, headed by Pat Zetah, president, recently toured the garden. Bee Haven director Elina Niño, apiculture professor with the UC Cooperative Extension and a member of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology (ENT) faculty, and Samantha Murray, education and garden coordinator, led the tour.
The event included a presentation by UC Davis Distinguished Professor Emerita Diane Ullman, noted entomologist and artist who played a key role in the creation and installation of the art in the garden; pollinator ecologist and native bee expert Neal Williams, ENT professor; and Cari Dubois-Wright, director of development, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. (See news story)
Zetah, a retired teacher, later described The Haven as a "hidden gem."
It is. When you first step into the garden you see a six-foot-long ceramic-mosaic worker bee, the work of artist Donna Billick. And then you'll see the plants and the pollinators.
"We have more 200 native plants in the garden,” Niño told the group. "It’s the home of honey bees, native bees, butterflies, native bees--and a few ground squirrels.” Native bees? UC Davis Distinguished Professor Emeritus Robbin Thorp (1933-2019) found and identified more than 80 native bees in the garden, she said. California is home to 1600 species of native bees.
What bees should you look for in the garden? A whiteboard on the newly painted green garden shed provides the seasonal information.
The plants are labeled with not only their botanical and scientific names but whether they are good nectar and pollen sources and if they are drought-tolerant. That's good advice if you're seeking more plants in your garden.
The Haven is really a haven--a great place to visit, to look for pollinators, to hear the bees buzz, to take photos, and to relax on the benches and enjoy the moment.
A hidden gem...
