Photos by MARY HOLSCHER The Mildred E. Mathias Botanical
Garden collection contains a wide variety of specimens dating back
to the university’s establishment.
By Michelle Baran
Daily Bruin Contributor
In the southeast corner of the UCLA campus lies just over seven
acres of land where students, faculty and visitors are now invited
to stop and smell the roses ““ or the Ledichinia Hastata
citrus-scented leaf of the mint family.
With a relatively new tour program, the Mildred E. Mathias
Botanical Garden is blooming with curious guests.
“We have our first Sunday of the month drop-in
tours,” said Carol Felixson, MEMBG Docent and Coordinator.
“They don’t require a reservation. All the tours are at
1 p.m. and 2 p.m., and all of our tours are free.”
Those interested in organizing a large tour group are welcome to
make a reservation at least two weeks in advance for appropriate
accommodations.
Felixson, the director of the one-year-old docent program, is
responsible in part, for training volunteer docents, people
qualified to conduct tours of the Garden and educate the public
about the unique collection of plants.
“We consider the Botanical Garden an outdoor
museum,” said Professor Arthur Gibson, director of the
Botanical Garden. “If you go to the Getty you learn about the
paintings while they’re on the wall. Here we’d like to
do the same thing: create an outdoor museum which is an educational
facility.”
 Photos by MARY HOLSCHER The fragrant botanical garden has
free tours every first Sunday of each month at both 1 p.m. and 2
p.m. This “living museum” might even have a longer
history than the UCLA campus itself. The collection contains
specimens that date back to the establishment of the university
grounds in 1929 and possibly before. Since its unofficial
beginnings, the Botanical Garden has been added to by faculty as
well as by students and volunteers.
Rebecca Bonney, one of the volunteer docents at the Garden,
walks many visitors through the hidden green adventure each month.
A UCLA alumni, Bonney was surprised to stumble on such a rich
collection of botanic treasures in the quiet and peaceful
Garden.
“In a city like Westwood, I was surprised to find a place
where there’s hardly any people,” Bonney said.
“People often come here just to get away.”
Along with other volunteers, Bonney is part of a team that works
together to guide various groups along the dirt trails through
nature’s marvels.
All tours, whether they are drop-in or by reservation, begin in
the Garden’s outdoor classroom referred to as the Nest. After
a brief introduction, the group is lead on a 45 to 60-minute
walking tour of the collections.
Aside from the array of interesting botanical trivia, the tour
is a gateway into a world of bamboo patches and a rolling creek in
a setting that is designed to optimize each species’ growth.
Plants are never pruned, but rather, are allowed to grow wild. The
result is a pure atmosphere surprisingly detached from the hustle
and bustle of a university town.
 Photos by MARY HOLSCHER The garden is located in the
southeast corner of UCLA’s campus and covers approximately
seven acres of land.
“(The Garden) is a place to walk through,” Felixson
said. “It can be an academic experience just as much as it
can be a relaxing one.”
Felixson makes a slew of suggestions for enjoying the Garden,
ranging from the obvious to the not so apparent. She said that many
of the life sciences could benefit by incorporating the Garden into
affiliated coursework. There is even a convenient picnic/meeting
area that can accommodate discussion groups, lectures or office
hours.
Furthermore, those involved in social work or psychology could
explore the therapeutic qualities of such a serene place, Felixson
said. Some of the more frequent visitors are, in fact, recovering
patients from the adjacent medical center.
“These tours are primarily for school groups, community
groups, garden clubs and churches,” Felixson said. “Any
kind of group where we can be assured of eight or more
people.”
The tours by reservation allow larger groups to stop by on
Mondays, Wednesdays or Fridays between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. with at
least two weeks notice.
The special collections that make UCLA’s Garden unique
include the palm collection, the ferns, the desert garden and, the
latest addition, an assortment of rare plants native only to
Hawaii.
 Illustration by RACHEL REILICH/Daily Bruin The
skyscrapers of the Botanical Garden are different species of
Eucalyptus, namely the Rose Gum near the Garden’s north
entrance, and the unique Torrey Pine. The Dawn Redwood is one of
the less spectacular trees in size but is extraordinary because it
was once thought to be extinct.
“In the tropics, not only does it not freeze, it
doesn’t get close to freezing. And we can get pretty close to
that here,” Gibson said. “It’s my hope that,
without any cover, without any glass, we could try to grow a rain
forest right here in Westwood.”
In addition to its special collections, the Garden has a large
collection of tropical and sub-tropical plants that UCLA can
accommodate thanks to the warm Southern California climate.
“The Garden is primarily a visitor’s
paradise,” Gibson said.