The Stanley Smith Horticulture Trust recently awarded $20,000 to Professor Ann Hirsch for the MEMBG to renovate the remaining portion of the Experimental Garden near the new Plant Growth Center (PGC), which is currently under construction. MEMBG donated about one-quarter hectare of the Experimental Garden, which is one of the few areas that offers full sun, for the glass-covered portion of the PGC. The award will be used to construct raised beds with an automatic watering system, and to bring in new soil and new plant materials. This sunny garden will be used on a rotating basis for courses and for professors, graduate students, and MEMBG itself. Some of the plants grown there will be medicinal ones.
Financial support for previous renovations to the MEMBG has largely come from the generosity of private donors, but the shear magnitude of this renovation project required a significantly larger amount of funding. The Stanley Smith Horticulture Trust was established to promote research and teaching in any branch of horticulture. Their mission includes the creation, development, and maintenance of botanical gardens, the promotion of the cultivation, wide dissemination of plants with value to mankind, the promotion and cultivation of new plants, and assistance in the publication of books or other works related to the science of horticulture. The building of the new PGC and the award from Stanley Smith Horticulture Trust are indications of the resurgence of interest in plant biology on the UCLA campus. These events will not only help to preserve the MEMBG's reputation as a recognized center for botanical diversity, but also will help reestablish UCLA's former prominence in studying plants with medicinal value.