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| Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven |
The event, initially slated for June 19, was rescheduled to allow the bee-friendly garden to grow, said Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and professor of entomology, UC Davis Department of Entomology.
The public opening, expected to draw a large crowd, will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the site on Bee Biology Road, and will include speakers, honey tasting, hand-outs, children's activities and tours of the apiary, haven and nearby Campus Buzzway, a field of wildflowers.
"We've delayed the Häagen-Dazs bee garden opening until Sept. 11 to give the plants more time to grow and fill out," Kimsey said. The half-acre garden, planted last fall next to the Laidlaw facility, 1 Bee Biology Road, is designed to be a year-round food source for bees and other pollinators, to raise public awareness about the plight of the honey bees and their importance and to show what area residents can plant in their own gardens.
Kimsey expects it to be a "campus destination."
Art created by students and the community in the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program, founded and directed by UC Davis entomologist-artist Diane Ullman and artist Donna Billick, will be displayed permanently at the garden. The entrance will feature two towering bee-hive sculptures, one sculpture painted to depict the work that bees do inside the hive and the other, the work outside the hive.
Another highlight is a large bee sculpture, being created by Billick for a pedestal beneath an almond tree.
A Sausalito-based team created a series of interconnected gardens with such names as "Honeycomb Hideout," "Nectar Nook," "Pollinator Patch" and "My Backyard" to win the international bee-friendly garden design competition, a gift to UC Davis from Häagen-Dazs. The design is the work of landscape architects Donald Sibbett and Ann F. Baker, interpretative planner Jessica Brainard and exhibit designer Chika Kurotaki.
Among the other features: a "Learning Center" "Save the Bees Sanctuary," "Round Dance Circle" and "Waggle Dance Way."
Download the bee haven design here.
More details on the opening will be forthcoming, Kimsey said.