A New Look at the BOG

There's a new look to the Joseph and Emma Lin Biological Garden, a 24,000-square-foot treasure behind the UC Davis Botanical Conservatory, off Kleiber Hall Drive.

Nicknamed th Biological Orchard and Gardens (BOG), it still contains the heritage fruit trees and mini-gardens, but one landscaped section that used to contain phacelia, lupine, tidy tips, desert bell, baby blue eyes and other bee plants is now a haven for cacti and succulents.

"We just recently made a succulent garden," related Marlene Simon, curator of the UC Davis Botanical Conservatory and a UC Davis alumna. "We needed to move our large cacti collection and figured it would be nice for the public to see if. We plan to add more succulents such as agaves in the near future. It was going to be the Mediterranean section but we have moved that to the area next to the South African section."

BOG has been described as a living museum. 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.

You may know Simon as "The Plant Lady" or horticulturist on Good Day Sacramento. Her website, https://marlenesimon.net/about, offers her background: "Urban farming, succulents, strange edibles, corpse plants, orchids…there is a never-ending as to what Marlene has grown. This on-air gardener with the outdoorsy, natural looks and sharp, cutting wit has even been known to use a chainsaw during a live TV segment. It's no wonder horticulturalist Marlene Simon is a popular contributor to Good Day Sacramento, appearing bi-weekly on the highly rated weekend edition. Her fans affectionately know her simply as 'The Plant Lady' and are addicted to her entertaining tips on the home-grown green revolution. Marlene draws inspiration from her personal passions, ranging from inside/outside planting to pruning to repurposing old tools and her estate sale 'treasures' -- transforming them into clever, rustic home and garden décor."

"Her home away from home is the magical UC Davis Botanical Conservatory...Here Marlene grows and cares for over 3,000 species of the world's most exotic/rare plants and flowers. In her spare time between appearing on Good Day Sacramento and work at the Conservatory, she guest lectures on all topics of organic gardening. As a fervent animal lover, Marlene donates her expertise to establish a wildlife garden at a regional non-profit wildlife center. When not immersed in the plant world, she can be found training daily for her next adventure, spanning from mountaineering to triathlon."

BOG is located in front (or back) of the Mann Laboratory on Kleiber Hall Drive, depending on which way you're going! If you park in Lot 26, off Kleiber Hall Drive, it's a short walk down the sidewalk to BOG.