Almost Secret Garden

In the past when we have written about UCLA and gardens, it has been about the Japanese Garden that the university has been blocked from selling.  The university would prefer that the less said about the Japanese Garden, the better.  (If you are unfamiliar with the saga of that garden, use the search engine for this blog for past postings.)  But there is another garden on campus which is not intended to be secret but at least was a discovery for yours truly.  On the south side of the Anderson School, you will find the Nix Garden – which according to the plaque shown above – has been there since 1999.  The landscaping of the garden is no secret since anyone walking near it will see the plantings.  (See the top picture.)  But the plaque is on the wall of the “B” building and is largely obscured by foliage unless you specifically are looking for it.

If you type “Nix Garden” into the search option on the UCLA website, you will get a map showing its location next to Anderson.  But you won’t find out anything about James Nix.  Googling his name produced no further information.  Searching on the Daily Bruin website produced no results.  No references showed up when I searched the LA Times using the UCLA library link.  But below is a picture of Westwood and UCLA in 1939, the year Mr. Nix graduated from the predecessor of the Anderson School.