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UC Gardening Blogs
Hear That Buzz? It's World Bee Day!
Hear that buzz? Today is World Bee Day! We celebrate honey bees every day, but they are especially...
Beekeeper Adelaide Grandia smiles through a pollinator cut-out board. Her grandfather is teaching her beekeeping. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Adelaide Grandia and her grandfather, Dwight Grandia of Gulf Shores, Ala., confer on a bee vacuum device. He is teaching her how to keep bees and recently set up a hive for her. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Ariel Cormier, who works in the chancellor and provost offices as manager of Budget and Financial Analyis, guides her twin daughters Casey and Gabrielle, 8, in the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven. The garden, located on Bee Biology Road, was installed in the fall of 2009. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Ariel Cormier shows her daughter, Gabrielle, how to use the bee vacuum device, a catch-and-release activity. At right is daughter Casey. The 8-year-old girls are twins. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Ariel Cormier with eight-year-old twin daughters Casey (left) and Gabrielle at the Miss Bee Haven sculpture. It's a six-foot-long mosaic and ceramic sculpture of a worker bee. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
UC Davis employee David Hernandez (left) with sons Aayden, 10 (center) and Evan, 8, pose behind the pollinator cut-out board. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
UC Davis employee Chunying Xu with her son, Andy, look for bees in the bee garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Renewed Appreciation for Jasmine!
My husband and I got up very early one Saturday morning to attend a lengthy meeting indoors at an office building in downtown Sacramento.
Before leaving for the day, I went out in our backyard to say hello to and check on all our plantings, young and old, to see if they needed anything before, we set out for the day. I was also sort of wishing to hang out in the yard rather than sitting indoors for the day, but we needed to attend the meeting.
We arrived at the meeting site in Sacramento and much to my surprise, it was as though that great garden energy had followed us there! Almost everywhere we looked - on, around and in this building were beautiful plantings! Most of them were jasmine plants - I don't think I had seen so much jasmine, ever. And they were in full bloom!
So, not only was I pleasantly surprised, but also thought how nice it would be to work in this building…greeted with beautiful plants, having them “escort” you up to the escalators, and enjoy seeing them swaying and twirling outside the office window for some nice work inspiration!
This got me thinking a bit more about jasmine. Jasmine has an interesting effect on people - some folks love them; some folks are allergic or just don't care for these plants and some are indifferent. In my case, I have always enjoyed them because the fragrance brings back wonderful childhood memories. I just hadn't thought that much about them until that moment standing, in front of the welcoming office building.
When I came home to our yard after the meeting that day and looked at the jasmine in our garden, I had a new respect for these beauties.
I looked around the yard, saw all of our jasmine and found a renewed appreciation for so many things they project, such as emitting beautiful fragrance, attracting pollinators (butterflies, bees, ladybugs), and providing camouflage for some unsightly views.
Spring has arrived…
CalPERS Building Entrance
CalPERS Building Interior
CalPERS Building Courtyard
Our Rain Gutter Down Spout Jasmine Camouflage
Our Peaceful Jasmine Pergola Haven
Brown Recluse Spiders? Not in California!
If you were to ask an audience of more than a few people if they or anyone they know has ever seen...
Gardening books on sale!
Spring is here and so are the pests. The University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources...
Ag Award Recipient Rachael Freeman Long: A UC Davis Professor Sparked Her Interest in Biocontrol
Rachael Freeman Long treasures her memories as a graduate student in entomology at the University...
Rachael Long, UCCE farm advisor, leads a tour of her family farm in Yolo County in April of 2015. "Hedgerows are important for enhancing beneficial insects, including bees and natural enemies, for better biocontrol and crop pollination in adjacent field crops, with measurable economic benefits," she says. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
