It seems that no matter where I go, my trip turns into a field trip opportunity. Last week I took my daughter’s very large Labrador retriever to the UC Davis Veterinary Small Animal Clinic. After meeting with the oncologist I knew both Easton and I needed to walk before the three hour drive home. We were in for a treat. Adjacent to the clinic is the amazing UC Davis Arboretum.
We spent almost two hours wandering and admiring the grounds.
The first stop was to view the astonishing Nature’s Gallery mosaic mural depicting the diversity of California plants and insects. The mural is composed of 140 ceramic tiles and is part of the Ruth Storer Garden which features plants that are particularly well-suited to California’s Central Valley.
(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The UC Davis Arboretum is over 100 acres and is composed of 17 gardens. These include an early California garden,
an Australian collection, a conifer collection, a California foothill collection, an oak grove,
and a beautiful white flower garden which is said to be stunning on moonlit nights. There are walkways meandering through the gardens and around a pond where we saw ducks, geese, and a turtle sunning on a log. Students were studying on the lawns and riding bikes on the paths. What a great place to go to college!
We are currently planning to redo our landscaping at home so I spent quite a bit of time looking at the drought resistant plants and I got some great ideas.
Easton and I both enjoyed our stroll. The arboretum turned a difficult day into one of wonder.
As a bonus, while walking around my daughter’s east Sacramento neighborhood, I saw an A-Z flower mural on the playground at David Lubin Elementary School. After participating in the A to Z Blog Challenge I see everything in terms of the alphabet so this was perfect. I wonder how hard it would be to plant an A-Z garden?
Beautiful mural! This place is a great find!
Isn’t it fun to stumble upon something really special?
What fun an A-Z garden would be! Thanks for this garden tour.
An A-Z garden would be fun – I wish I could have gone into the school yard to get a closer look.
You’ll need to stop by the Arboretum if you get to Davis.
The mosaic tiles are beautiful. Walkling before or after spending that long in the car is a really good idea. I’,m a bit confused by taking the large dog to the small animal hospital?
I love how you find things in your day to day, and when I had my Flat Stanley Blog, that was sorta the message I tried to convey to parents, that daily life is adventure, there’s always an opportunity to learn and too many people go about their day to day and simply miss out. Well done!
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Hi Sandy, UC Davis has a Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital with clinics. Easton is a very large dog but he’s smaller than the horses, cows, and llamas that go to the large animal clinic. He hates the car and loves to walk so the Arboretum was perfect.
Your Flat Stanley blog must have been interesting. The kids I work with love the Flat Stanley books and so do I. I just read the one set in China. You are so right – daily life is an adventure!
I enjoyed your ‘trip’ this time. The tiles are beautiful.
Hi Trine,
The tiles are wonderful I guess the mural was originally set up in Washington, D.C.
I’m glad they brought it back to California.
Although familiar with Davis, the UC campus (yes, it’s great to be a student there!) and the arboretum, it’s great to see these places through a different pair of eyes. And the mural is gorgeous. A garden from A to Z would be gorgeous too. Although a challenge, I’m sure you would be up to the task. See you later for another great post.
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I’m sure you enjoyed visiting your daughter at UCD. Now you will get to explore UC San Diego!
It seems we’re neighbors–sort of. But we’re often in your area. I’ve never stopped to see these grounds, but I will now. It’s beautiful! Thanks for posting about it.
I like being your sort of neighbor. Yes, stop by the arboretum if you travel through Davis. It is a lovely place to stroll and think.