Put down that shovel and take a break! Better yet, donate that shovel to a campus-city public art project and take a break at a beer tasting, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Aug. 9 at the Davis Commons shopping center, First Street and Richards Boulevard, during the 2nd Friday ArtAbout.

The beer tasting, sponsored and hosted by Whole Foods Market, will feature beer from Sacramento’s Track 7 Brewing Co. and food pairings from Whole Foods. A shovel will get you in for free; otherwise, admission is $5 (benefitting Friends of the UC Davis Arboretum).

The Arboretum Terrace Garden and Lois Crowe Patio, next door to Whole Foods, will host music and other activities, including a performance by Davis-based Common House Productions. Other participants include the UC Davis Art-Science Fusion Program, the UC Davis Department of Design and the Davis Art Center, and the arboretum, of course, with displays of Arboretum All-Stars.

Visitors can also learn about the “urban greening” project just getting under way behind Davis Commons. Besides the arboretum’s California Native Plant GATEway Garden, the project will include improvements to the greenbelt along the Putah Creek Parkway, used by pedestrians and bicyclists going to and from south Davis (through tunnels under the railroad tracks and Interstate 80).

The shovels are for a vine-inspired gateway — with old shovelheads serving as “leaves” on twisted steel pipe. Nearly 250 shovels have already been donated toward the 400 that are needed.

More about the shovel project and collection effort. More about the California Native Plant GATEway Garden (and detours during the construction).

MORE AT THE ARBORETUM

• Folk Music Jam Sessions — They continue through the summer, with two more in August, on the 16th and the 30th (both Fridays). (A previous posting gave an incorrect date for the last jam session in August.) Pull out your fiddles, guitars, mandolins, penny whistles, pipes, flutes, squeezeboxes — you name it! — and join your fellow musicians from noon to 1 p.m. for a little bluegrass, old-time, blues, Celtic, klezmer and other world music. All skill levels welcome. Listeners, too! On the Wyatt Deck.

• Delights from Down Under — A leisurely, guided stroll through the Australian and New Zealand collections — featuring plants that thrive in our Mediterranean climate and plants that have adapted in fascinating ways. Many of the plants make great additions to home gardens. 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 17, Wyatt Deck.

• Succulents, Nolinas, Agaves — Learn about the origins and cultivation of these beautiful and extremely drought-tolerant plants. 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 24, Ruth Risdon Storer Garden.

All programs are free and open to the public. More information: (530) 752-4880 or arboretum.ucdavis.edu (for directions, click on “Plan Your Visit”). Keep up with arboretum news by reading The Leaflet e-newsletter. To start receiving it, send an email to arboretum@ucdavis.edu, with “newsletter” in the subject line.

Follow Dateline UC Davis on Twitter.