- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
You're shaking my confidence daily...
--"Oh, Cecelia" written by Paul Simon of Simon and Garfunkle
If you think of the song, "Oh, Cecelia,' every time you pronounce Phacelia (the plant), you're not alone.
Pollinators, especially honey bees, bumble bees and syrphid flies, love the lacy Phacelia (Phacelia tanacetifolia) at the Joseph and Emma Lin Biological Orchard and Garden (BOG) near the Botanical Conservatory at the University of California, Davis.
P. tanacetifolia, a leggy three-foot plant clustered with light blue to purple flowers, is a member of the borage family, Boraginaceae. It's native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico.
Where is the BOG? Back of Parking Lot 26 on Kleiber Drive.
What's in it? It's landscaped with several dozen species of heritage fruit trees and colorful mini-gardens.
A sign describes the garden. "This unique landscape showcases a slice of biodiversity in the heart of the central campus and is a hub for outdoor learning...The drought-tolerant plants growing in these beds are all from Mediterranean regions with similar summer-dry climates in Davis, including the Mediterranean, South Africa, Chile and Australia. The beds demonstrate the diversity of plants that can grow in the Sacramento Valley and provide students and campus visitors with a variety of species to observe and study."
So, basically, BOG is an outdoor laboratory for hands-on learning. "Classes perform biodiversity assessments, record insect observations and monitor the onsite weather stations," Instagram relates. Student employees, interns and volunteers at the Botanical Conservatory take care of the garden.
Among the flowers blooming in the BOG in the early spring, by color:
- Red: European red flax, Linum grandiflorum rubrum, an annual that's native to Algeria
- Yellow: tidy tips, Layia platyglossa, an annual that's native to California
--The seep monkey flower, Mimulus guttatus, native to California
--Lupine, Lupinus, native to North America. - Blue: Desert bell, Phacelia campanularia, an annual herb that is native to California and endemic (limited) to California.
- Lavender: Phacelia, also called Lacy phacelia, blue tansy or purple tansy (Phacelia tanacetifolia), native to the southwestern United States
--Lupine: Lupinus, native to North America - Red-Orange-Yellow: Blanket flower or Gaillardia (Gaillardia × grandiflora), native to North and South America
- Orange: California golden poppies, Eschscholtzia californica
But it's the Phacelia that's the big draw today.
Phacelia, you're breaking my heart...
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Plenty of interactions occurred among bugs, plants and people at the 12th annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day, a Super Science Day recently held on the UC Davis campus and both free and family friendly.
Check out some of the activities at the Bohart Museum of Entomology, the Center for Plant Diversity and the Botanical Conservatory. They were among the 11 museums and collections showcased. Also a key part of the annual event: the Anthropology Museum, Arboretum and Public Garden, California Raptor Center, Nematode Collection, Marine Invertebrate Collection, Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, Paleontology Collection and the Phaff Yeast Culture Collection.
BioDiv Day, founded by the Bohart Museum, is traditionally held on Presidents' Day weekend. This year's event drew an estimated 3000, according to chair Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator of the Bohart Museum.
A few photos of the interactions among bugs, plants and people....
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
When you attend the UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day on Saturday, Feb. 15, you'll see these California natives blooming in the Biological Orchard and Gardens (BOG), a 24,000-square-foot treasure behind the UC Davis Botanical Conservatory off Kleiber Hall Drive.
The ninth annual Biodiversity Museum Day, a science-based day that's free and family friendly, will take place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and showcase 13 museums or collections, including the Botanical Conservatory, managed by curator Ernesto Sandoval.
BOG is a living museum, planted not only with several dozen species of heritage fruit trees, but landscaped with colorful mini-gardens.
Among the flowers blooming in the BOG in the early spring, by color:
- Red: European red flax, Linum grandiflorum rubrum, an annual that's native to Algeria
- Yellow: tidy tips, Layia platyglossa, an annual that's native to California
--The seep monkey flower, Mimulus guttatus, native to California
--Lupine, Lupinus, native to North America. - Blue: Desert bell, Phacelia campanularia, an annual herb that is native to California and endemic (limited) to California.
- Lavender: Phacelia, also called Lacy phacelia, blue tansy or purple tansy (Phacelia tanacetifolia), native to the southwestern United States
--Lupine: Lupinus, native to North America - Red-Orange-Yellow: Blanket flower or Gaillardia (Gaillardia × grandiflora), native to North and South America
- Orange: California golden poppies, Eschscholtzia californica
The orchard contains heritage fruit tree varieties threatened with commercial extinction. They include the Gravenstein and Johnathan apples; the Suncrest peach; the Bleinheim apricot, the Mariposa plum and the Meyer lemon. See the full list of trees as well as some fun facts here: https://thebogatucd.wixsite.com/bogucd/single-post/2017/07/18/BOG-Fruit-Trees.
UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day
The ninth annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day is billed as a “free, educational event for the community where visitors get to meet and talk with UC Davis scientists from undergraduate students to staff to emeritus professors and see amazing objects and organisms from the world around us,” according to Biodiversity Museum Day coordinator Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator for the Bohart Museum of Entomology. Last year's event drew more than 4000 visitors. The event is always held the Saturday of Presidents' Day weekend.
The schedule is online at http://biodiversitymuseumday.ucdavis.edu/schedule.html.
Participating museums or collections and the hours they will be open:
- The Botanical Conservatory, the Greenhouses along Kleiber Hall Drive, will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The following five will be open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.:
- Arboretum and Public Garden, Shields Oak Grove, alongside the Vet School, Garrod Drive on campus
- Bohart Museum of Entomology, Room 1124 and Main Hall of the Academic Surge Building, Crocker Lane
- California Raptor Center, 340 Equine Lane, off Old Davis Road
- Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, Room 1394 and Mail Hall, Academic Surge Building, Crocker Lane
- Paleontology Collection, Earth and Physical Sciences Building, 434 LaRue Road
Two collections will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.:
- Phaff Yeast Culture Collection, Robert Mondavi Institute of Wine and Food Science, 392 Old Davis Road, on campus
- Viticulture and Enology Culture Collection, Robert Mondavi Institute of Wine and Food Science, 392 Old Davis Road, on campus
These five will be open from noon to 4 p.m.:
- Anthropology Museum, 328 Young Hall and grounds
- Center for Plant Diversity, Sciences Laboratory Building, off Kleiber Hall Drive
- Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, Bee Biology Road, off Hopkins Road (take West Hutchison Drive to Hopkins)
- Nematode Collection, Sciences Laboratory Building, off Kleiber Hall Drive
- Marine Invertebrate Collection, Sciences Laboratory Building, off Kleiber Hall Drive
All 13 sites are within walking distance except for the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven on Bee Biology Road and the Raptor Center on Old Davis Road. Further information, including a campus map, is available on the UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day website. Maps will be distributed at the 13 sites.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Biodiversity--that's what it's at on Sunday, Feb. 12 at the University of California, Davis.
That's when four museums or centers that engage in education and research involving insects, vertebrates or plants will host open houses.
And folks will be amazed, officials promise.
The Bohart Museum of Entomology, the Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology and the Botanical Conservatory will be open to the public from 1 to 4 p.m., while the Center for Plant Diversity will be open from 2 to 4 p.m.
"This will be a fun day where people of all ages can visit UC Davis and check out a number of our research and teaching collections," says Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator for the Bohart Museum and Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology. "Each collection is special and an important scientific resource. I think people will be amazed."
Yang calls it a "behind-the-scenes look at some top research collections."
"There will be staff and students on hand to answer questions and engage people. With Valentine's Day close by there will be some exhibits with a bent toward our love of the natural world, attracting a mate, and mating! But don't worry--it will be appropriate for all ages. For plants this means pollination and that ties back to insects and other animals like bats! "
The event is the first-ever on campus and may become an annual event. "The various collections have talked about doing a museum day," Yang said. "In early February, there is an annual Museum Day for the Sacramento area. This involves the zoo, the railroad museum and other attractions."
Theme of the Bohart Museum open house will be “Bug Lovin.’” The Bohart Museum, located at 1124 Academic Surge on California Drive, is home to more than seven million insect specimens; a live petting zoo (including Madagascar hissing cockroaches and walking sticks; and a gift shop. The director is Lynn Kimsey, professor of entomology at UC Davis. The museum is affiliated with the Department of Entomology.
The Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology (MWFB) is a vertebrate museum dedicated to education, outreach, conservation, and research. It is located in 1394 Academic Surge, California Drive and is part of the Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology. MWFB is managed by curator Andrew Engilis, Jr. and collections manager Irene Engilis.
The UC Davis Botanical Conservatory, directed by Ernesto Sandoval, is a 3,600 square-foot greenhouse complex located north of Storer Hall on Kleiber Hall Drive. Its mission "to inspire, facilitate, promote and engage our visitors with an understanding and appreciation of plants, their diversity and the pivotal role they serve in the environments where they are found," Sandoval says. The Botanical Conservatory is part of the Plant Biology Section, Department of Plant Sciences. The conservatory includes more than 3,000 live specimens from 150 families.
The Center for Plant Diversity, directed by Dan Potter of Plant Sciences, is located in 1026 Sciences Laboratory Building, near Briggs and Storer halls. Part of the Department of Plant Sciences, it houses the J.M. Tucker and Beecher Crampton Herbaria. "We are going to have plant pressing and mounting demonstrations as well as tours," says curator Ellen Dean.
Feb. 12 also marks the birthday anniversary of naturalist Charles Darwin (1809-1882). Yang pointed out that "Darwin was inspired by exploring and collecting plants and animals from all over the world. This connection to nature and curiosity is what fueled Darwin's research. Our collections can inspire that same sort of curiosity and questioning.”
Yes, it promises to be an amazing day!
