Picnic Day

We do lots of really cool things in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences! Some of it you can see and experience during Picnic Day 2026, set for Saturday, April 18. Some of it you can even take home. Visit us in the courtyard of the Plant and Environmental Sciences building, which is south of the tennis courts.

Read on for some of the things you can see, do and eat ... all for free!

Picnic Day is also Give Day

Each year, Picnic Day partners with many groups on campus to support UC Davis Give Day. As a part of that effort, the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences this year is supporting a challenge that benefits students and research at the Center for Plant Diversity Herbarium!

Center for Plant Diversity Training Fund

This year’s challenge comes from longtime herbarium volunteer Katherine Mawdsley and Rita Colwell. They will donate $10,000 if 25 people give a gift of any size to the Center for Plant Diversity Training Fund.

This Fund is a newly created endowment designed to deliver early career training in herbarium curation, collections management, plant identification and taxonomy for current students doing internships and short-term training experiences for recent graduates. For more details on the progress of this effort, please contact herbarium curator Alison Colwell at [email protected].

General information about Give Day is here, and it includes dozens of other opportunities to support UC Davis.

Close-up of dense purple and green leaves with soft veining and glossy texture

Explore How Controlled Conditions Affect Plants

The Cammarisano Lab of Controlled Environment Agriculture invites visitors to explore the future of indoor food production at this year’s Picnic Day exhibit.

Man signing form at outdoor fair booth; smiling volunteer with bowls and flyers

Pistachios Are ‘One Tough Nut’

The Drakakaki Lab presents “That’s One Tough Nut! Pistachio Resilience in the Face of Climate Change.” Come by for a free pistachio snack and learn about the science of pistachios: how they are able to withstand salt and drought stress, and exactly how th

Black plant label reading PURPLE VETCH among dense leafy green foliage. UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences

Cover Crops Nourish Our Food and Our Land

In the lab of Amélie Gaudin, we are excited to share during Picnic Day how cover crops nourish the land we grow our food on. In the seed packets you receive from us, the species of cover crops included are: Oat, barley, wheat, fava bean, spring pea, vetch

Two man in a greenhouse filled with plants

Tasty tomatoes: You can grow your own!

In the 1960s, two scientists at UC Davis developed processing tomatoes and a machine harvester that revolutionized the industry in California. Now, tomatoes for both canning and fresh use rank No. 9 in market value statewide.

A woman holds a small gold-colored trophy. She stands with a man in a greenhouse. In front of them are trays with hundreds of 4-inch pots with small green plants growing

Strawberries: Nutritious, delicious and a big state crop

UC Davis' Strawberry Breeding Program gives career opportunities to students and has international impact.

People talking under a tent. Plants in foreground

Weed doctors seek solutions for pesky plants

Dandelions are pretty, but weeds nationwide cost homeowners, farmers, ranchers and land managers tens of billions of dollars each year in control measures and lost production.

A man dressed like a giant yellow banana

Postharvest Produce Heroes

Since our very earliest days at UC Davis nearly 120 years ago, scientists have looked for ways to maintain and improve the quality of fruits, vegetables and grains after they are harvested.