Planting for the future

Tuesday, January 14, 1997

Docent program and wheelchair accessibility among the plans to
revitalize gardenBy Julie Brighton

Daily Bruin Contributor

The Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden, an eight-acre spread
displaying over half of the known plant families in the world, is
renowned for its beauty and diversity. The garden, with its
emphasis on neo-tropical flora, has been featured in films such as
"Congo" and attracts scholars from all around the world.

Regardless, at the corner of Hilgard and Le Conte avenues, it
has remained a largely unknown corner of campus since its founding
in 1930.

Recent efforts by volunteers have fueled a campaign to increase
awareness of the garden’s existence and to encourage enjoyment of
the area by students, faculty and the community.

Randolph Plewak, manager of the garden, began building up the
volunteer base and implementing his ideas for improving the area
six years ago. He started a formal training program for volunteers
to "learn all aspects of gardening, not just raking."

Although he estimates that half of volunteers are students,
Plewak says that the other half is made up of "professionals in the
field and people who want to explore and get an education in
gardening and techniques."

The emphasis on education is what attracted student volunteer
Janine Goldberg to volunteer her time at the garden. A fifth-year
geography/environmental studies and development studies student,
Goldberg plans to leave for the Peace Corps in June to work in the
agriculture extension.

She joined the volunteers to "get more experience with plants
and learn about working with them." Her activities include
"everything from repotting to seed germination, raking, pruning and
planting."

In addition to improving her own understanding of plants,
Goldberg became involved with recent projects for making the
Botanical Garden completely wheelchair accessible and building a
new outdoor amphitheater/classroom. This structure, called "The
Nest," is part of the garden’s outreach efforts and is available
for use by classes and meeting groups.

Both of these improvements have involved outside groups as well,
including community volunteers and over 50 members of the
Interfraternity Council, who held a work-day last spring to help
make the garden wheelchair accessible.

Both Plewak and Goldberg stress the fact that the garden is not
just available for those interested in gardening and plants and
hope that their outreach efforts will make the garden known to
other members of the campus population.

By involving many different campus and community groups, garden
volunteers hope to spread the word about the garden and let
students know that a little "piece of tranquility" is waiting for
them right on the campus, as Goldberg says.

The therapeutic properties of the garden are emphasized by
Plewak as well, who hopes that more students will discover the
garden as a tranquil place to relax while eating lunch or unwinding
from the stress of classes. Many of his volunteers, he finds, are
more interested in the relaxation promised by gardening work than
in actually learning about the plants.

Another segment of the Westwood community is becoming involved
in the garden as well. A docent program is under development by
UCLA biology professor Arthur Gibson. Most involved with the
program are Bruin alumni.

Docents, after completing a training course, are available to
lead tours of the gardens for visitors and groups of students. So
far, most visitors have been from local elementary schools, but
Gibson hopes to expand the scope of the program to include
community gardening clubs and groups of seniors.

Gibson, who has been director of the Botanical Garden since
1980, hopes by his efforts to "make the garden more useful and
accessible to the public."

He encourages all types of classes to utilize The Nest and also
hopes that it will become the site of future outdoor concerts and
poetry readings. In addition to welcoming students into the garden,
he publishes information about the garden and has hosted a
symposium on rain forests involving experts from around the
world.

Students and the public are invited to schedule tours and are
encouraged to "get out and enjoy the garden" at any time by
exploring on their own. Written tours of the contents of the garden
are due to be published soon by Gibson, enabling students to
conduct self-guided tours.

The Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden’s hours are 8:00 a.m.
to

5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on
weekends. For more information, call 825-3620.

JUSTIN WARREN/Daily Bruin

Randolph Plewak, who manages the garden, works on maintenance in
the greenhouse, which houses many fragile and exotic species of
flora.

Sarah Kukuczka, 2, (bottom) and her sister Molly, 6, explore the
garden. Stairways like these will soon be
wheelchair-accessible.

The Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden boasts a variety of
plants from diverse climates.