gazebo in summer, looking west 
under the gazebo, looking up
At the west end of the Arboretum there is a large wooden gazebo surrounded by gardens. It was built in 1966.
The gazebo is in the middle of the Carolee Shields White Flower Garden near the Shields Oak Grove. The garden surrounding the Gazebo is a moon garden, meant to be viewed at night. All of the plants in that garden are white-flowered varieties.
This gazebo and the grassy area surrounding the gazebo are great places to relax, study and enjoy the outdoors on a nice day. The setting is absolutely beautiful and it is probably a great location for a wedding - in fact, many people do host their wedding ceremonies out there. Info about reserving the Gazebo for a ceremony: http://events.ucdavis.edu/events/ Because this area is so far from the central part of campus, I don't think there is much traffic here, which is another reason why it is a great place to study.
Makes a pretty good Makeout Spot if you can get it all to yourselves. It is especially romantic early in the day when the Sun is just coming up since most of the flowers are particularly fragrant. There is also a fairly low amount of traffic in the area that early.
The arboretum gazebo also makes an excellent place to chill with a guitar or harmonica. Recommended for acoustic rock and small, semi-private shows. The wooden structure allows for amazing acoustic sound, as well as allows for some privacy for our shyer musicians.
Map of it all located on the official site. As you can see, most of the Arboretum (and what most people who've seen it consider the nicer part) is the part furthest away from campus and the Borders end. Nice gardens, tons of flowers, many paths and lots of benches...it's really nice. Just park on the street right by the VMTH's llamas and enjoy. -ES
There are often many burned out candles left on the Gazebo floor, likely left behind after some sort of ceremony. This happens many times throughout the year. If you reserve it through Conference and Event Services for an event they will make sure it is power-washed before you arrive.
Strange things that can happen at the Arboretum Gazebo
The gazebo was once the site of a birthday party for Nick Arora that turned into a brawl between several East Davis High School kids hopped up on scooby snacks and Kris Fricke's head. The offenders were vanquished by a group of attendees unofficially called the "Vigilantes of the Central Valley". They fled; Kris Fricke's head (along with the rest of him) survived in an unsurpassed feat of resilience and the masses scattered. When the officials arrived to attend to the wounded, the party ended. The keg had been emptied already anyway. -GautamJoshi
When I was a freshman in Tercero B, this is the place kids from the dorm came to drink most of the time. It's a somewhat longish walk, but not too bad. I remember hanging out here one night, and after people started to get tipsy, I walked off, circled around to the street, flipped on a big Mag Light, and walked loudly toward the gazebo, before saying in what I thought was a pretty good cop voice, "OK, kids, I'm going to need to see some ID." Everyone but one guy goes dead silent. That one guy? Holy crap, I don't think I've ever seen anyone run that fast in my life. By the time everyone cracked up he was halfway back to the dorms, and when we got back, he started laughing at people who weren't as fast as him and got (he thought) stuck with tickets. —TomGarberson
