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16 LIVE IT UP! SUNDAY, JUNE 29, 2014 SANTA CRUZ SENTINEL Dave Dawson 831.901.2856 dave-dawson.com | dave@dave-dawson.com Top Producer and Circle of Champions, every year. List with Confidence CalBRE #01491117 Always there when you need my help Seniors and Succulents Long timers at the UCSC Arboretum share passion for plants B ack in 1982, Stephen McCabe used to walk down from family stu- dent housing to the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum, where he would mem- orize chemistry equa- tions and take horti- culture classes in the scenic beauty of the gardens. Three years later, after completing his graduate work at San Francisco State, he landed a job at the Arboretum. Nearly 30 years later, McCabe, 60, is still coordinating education programs and studying rare and endangered California succulents. UC Santa Cruz (UCSC) is renowned for the wooded beauty of its coastal campus. Less well known is 135 ocean-view acres unfolding across the campus, which house the Arboretum. Yet it is considered one of the most beautiful destina- tions in Santa Cruz. Established in the 1960s, the Arbore- tum was designed to present and protect flora native to Austra- lia, New Zealand and South Africa, yet it now it hosts thousands of species which thrive in Mediterranean climates commensurate with the Central Coast. Since the start of Friends of the UCSC Arboretum, a support group established in 1976, docents and vol- unteers, many now in their senior years, have been pivotal in keeping the gardens and their purpose alive. Phyllis Norris, 84, a Friend of the Arbore- tum since its inception, has been a docent and tour guide for many years, and has filled a series of binders with plant descriptions for every species in the Arboretum. The late Emily Clark, whose son Mike Clark is the web- master for the Arbore- tum, repotted plants every week until she was 90. She continued to volunteer and attend events until she was 96. Marie Beckham, 87, has been a volunteer for the Arboretum for more than 30 years. After earning her certificate in horticul- ture from a two-year program at Cabrillo College, she began her career as a landscape gardener at 53, and retired 10 years later. As a volunteer for the Arboretum, she has served as tour leader for children's groups, senior citizens, garden clubs and the gen- eral public. She has helped with the library, worked with succulents continued on pg 17 by Lisa Crawford Watson