John W. Nason

The Nason Garden and Outdoor Classroom is named for the seventh president of Swarthmore College, who "helped get more than 3,000 American students of Japanese descent out of detention camps and place them in institutes of higher learning" during World War II (The New York Times, November 2001).

According to the Scott Arboretum website, the Nason Garden was specially planted to be enjoyed during each season. Its horticultural foundation is plant texture and it features both "bold" and "fine" textures. Texture is defined as the "overall structure of a plant, which includes the leaves, the form and even the bark" (Scott Arboretum, 2006 ).

The plants in the garden include the prickly pear, the Japanese Maple, plantain-leaf sedge, spike winterhazel, switch grass, tiger eye sumanc, and oxeye daisies. For a complete listing, please see the Arboretum brochure on the garden.