Memories Listings

Three years after retiring, I finally signed up to be a UC Davis Arboretum volunteer.  On our first day of training in January this year, we introduced ourselves.  Every person shared stories of tender connection to the arboretum; riding bikes with their kids; walking with family and friends; discovering new plants for their own gardens.  I didn’t know these people. Yet, in the warmth welling in my stomach, I felt an immediate web of connection to them, wound with strands of love for our shared place.

The first encounter with two of my laboratory friends in person was at the arboretum. After long months in the house, being in contact with only my housemates and with others by Zoom, the arboretum at that time was a place of a little freedom and hope. A place to breathe and enjoy the company and the trees at fall. At least give us a little sensation of normality.

Two weeks after graduation John and I were married in the gazebo with a bagpiper serenading us. Two children, many dogs, and twenty-six years later we’re still married. Perfect venue. I still cherish the memories and photos.

My most happy childhood memories of Davis include picnics and afternoons at the Arboretum. I remember running around as fast as I could, rolling down hills of grass, and feeding the ducks way too much old bread. It was pure bliss. This is a photo of me and my mom (Roberta (Kidd) Allen) in winter of 1971. My parents are both UCD alumni. I followed in the family tradition and completed undergrad and law school at UCD. Even at 52, I still get that warm and happy feeling each time I explore the Arboretum.

I began college in September 2011. I just moved from China to the United States. By the Spring Quarter of 2012, I was struggling with English really hard. I was homesick. I was depressed. My Chinese culture did not help at all. The Chinese culture always promotes the mentality that "study in every and one of your waking moment."

We were transplanted from Los Angeles in June of 1989. I was a newly single mom of three. We were settling in to a new life in the gem of the community at Solano Park that bordered the east end of the arboretum. My children were 5, 6 and 7 and thought our nightly walks after dinner in the arboretum were the most magical adventures. Especially after coming from the inner city of Los Angeles. Being able to ride bikes around the arboretum was especially thrilling.

Before we were married, my wife Janet, and I were among many who enjoyed the Arboretum and environment along the creek [Arboretum Waterway], including the woods on hot days. We met in a Russian class in Olson Hall, a short walk from the Arboretum. I have had the opportunity to enjoy its growth in the intervening years, having recently retired after 20 years as a graphic designer for UC Davis Extension (now Continuing and Professional Education).
 

I met my husband on the UC Davis campus while we were students and spent many hours enjoying the beauty of the arboretum. It was always a respite from daily life. When our children were born, the arboretum allowed us to go hiking and biking with them in a beautiful safe place. As they grew, they enjoyed the different areas of the arboretum with friends. Now they bring their children here. I feel so lucky to have been able to live in Davis all these years and so grateful to all those who have worked diligently to maintain and improve the Arboretum for all of us to enjoy.

I was the newly appointed garden writer for the Sacramento Bee. I'd had one class in botany at the University of Nevada, Reno, and was completely out of my element when I was assigned to cover the arboretum. Warren Roberts (who became a great friend and source of knowledge during my 30-year career) took me on a tour of the facility and my notes must have looked like those of a student in Latin 101. I hurried back to the office and plunged into the Sunset Western Garden Book and Taylor's encyclopedia to see if I could identify plants he described like they were old friends.

I have loved the University Arboretum and its ancient oaks ever since my first visit to the University of California Davis Campus on a warm, dusty Picnic Day in 1958.

Now this treasure of U.C.D. is called University of California - Davis - Arboretum and Public Garden, but when it was begun on 29 February 1936, Cal Aggie Labor Day, this was the first and only arboretum of the University of California, hence the original name. What is now called UC Davis was then called “The University Farm”.

We have come a long way!

I painted my first watercolor in the Arboretum. It was terrible! What a mess! I later did a series of "Bridges in the Arboretum" that I believe were a lot better than that first one. I have been going to the Arboretum for inspiration for many years. During the last year during the Covid shutdown, when you could park anywhere for free, I spent many hours there sketching and painting with friends [masked and distanced].

During the summer, my friend, Valerie Baas, and I would sometimes spend the entire day at the arboretum. We would visit all of the animals, play hide and seek, cross every bridge, and look for wildlife. The campus was incredibly quiet then and we often had the place to ourselves for hours. We could bring a book and read or just stretch out on the grass and talk. It was an incredibly peaceful place and we were lucky to experience it.

As an undergrad at UCD, I put enormous pressure on myself to succeed in my studies. I'd spend entire weekends in Shields Library studying in the book stacks where I knew that I wouldn't be distracted. Looking back, I realize that the one thing that kept me focused wasn't really the quiet smell of old books and their silent presence on the shelves.

One evening around Picnic Day April 1974, my boyfriend Steve Marsden, RNR’73, and I were walking in the Arboretum. We hung out at the Arboretum a lot not only because it was so beautiful, but our majors Renewal Natural Resources and Environmental Planning & Management took us out there nearly every day.

As a student, the Arboretum was a place to be in nature and find a place of respite. My go to location was a bench way out at the west end. I would go to study, read, write or just think. My appreciation for the Arboretum grew and grew over the years, particularly when I first interned, and then worked as a student during both my undergrad and graduate days at Davis. Within a short time of being connected to the Arboretum, I aspired to work at a public garden.