Desert diversity: Southern Nevada landscapes needn’t be devoid of character

Wednesday, May 23, 2001 | 8:22 a.m.

Four years ago local architect Jon Sparers had a quiet, tidy array of desert flora planted in the front yard of his contemporary Summerlin home.

Today the unruly mix, which has overtaken the view of his home, provides a rich, textured blend of wispy greens, colorful blossoms and musky scents.

The yard is dense, forested and well shaded.

His sweet acacia, droopy mesquite and mimosa trees offer a delicate canopy above the desert spoons, Mexican primrose and autumn sage planted below. Texas mountain laurel fills out the remaining space.

"The front walkway is a sequence of discovery along the way," said Jonathan Spears, the landscape architect who designed Sparers' yard.

Had Sparer known desert landscaping could be so rich, he said he would have surrounded his entire house with it.

"The next one will be all desert," Sparer said, referring to another Las Vegas home that he is building for himself. "At certain times of the year, there's eight different colors blooming (here)."

Las Vegas may have its scorching summer temperatures, strong winds and challenging soil, but residents are finding that with creative desert landscaping they can have a rich, colorful yard that uses little water and demands little maintenance.

"This is one of my favorite trees," Sparer said of the mimosa tree that offers soft, lacy foliage and shades a sidewalk leading from the side of his house to his backyard pool. "It's so pretty and it makes a great canopy." The tree also offers fragrant pink flowers.

When designing a yard, Spears said most of his clients want color and coverage.

"Fifty percent of my job is educating clients on what's available here," he said. "A lot of people want plants that they had out East. But azaleas, rhododendrons, camelias don't do well here. You can try but it's going to be a heck of a lot more work. It's a completely different microclimate than they should be in."

Decorative plants, such as cassias, agaves and Texas rangers are good flowering plants, he said. Blooming cover plants, such as lantana, verbena and gazania add color and can also replace the need for a lawn.

"I try to minimize the use of turf," he said. "Ninety-five percent of people want grass. Eighty percent want more than they should have. If you don't have pets or kids there's not much use for lawn."

Peter Duncombe, gardens administrator for the Desert Demonstration Gardens at 3701 W. Alta Drive (near South Valley View Boulevard), said he's familiar with Las Vegas residents wanting lawn.

"There's nothing that does what grass does in landscaping," Duncombe said. "It's cooling, (has a) green effect and it's clean -- and it's an image of what Americans have with their landscaping. Broad lawns are the American dream."

However, he added, "pouring water on lawns (in Las Vegas) doesn't make sense anymore -- not that it ever did."

The Desert Demonstration Gardens offers a free tour of water-efficient residential landscapes and gardens from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. daily. Visitors can see examples of xeriscaping and gardens, as well as ways to incorporate a minimal use of lawn into landscaping so it serves its utilitarian and decorative purposes while requiring less watering.

"People come here and they're totally blown away when they see what is actually possible in landscaping and what can be accomplished," Duncombe said. "They're pleasantly surprised at all the things they can have."

Terraced gardens, residential landscaping, fruit and vegetable, cacti, herb and Oriental gardens are part of the display at the gardens.

There are 1,000 varieties of plants that can be used in desert landscaping, Duncombe said. Trees, shrubs, ground covers and perennials can be used with other elements, such as rocks and boulders, to tie together a desert theme.

Duncombe said that a landscape designed where plants have a more natural look -- as opposed to a landscaping designed to be kept trim and neat -- require less maintenance.

Spears said he opts for plants that retain their natural form. "It looks so much better," he said. "It's loose. It gives the plants so much more identity.

"If you put things too close together, you're going to have maintenance issues and pest problems," he added. "People want a (full) effect right now, but it's a lot more beneficial in the long run to a healthy landscape."

Spears recommends that anyone, whether they are designing their yard or hiring a landscape architect, visit the demonstration gardens. The gardens give people an idea how their completed landscape will look, how large the plants will grow and shows plants in context with other plants, he said.

At Sparer's home nearly 30 backyard trees provide privacy and shade. Raywood ash stops the winds coming in from the southwest.

Desert willow, sweet acacia and mesquite trees create a screen that blocks the view of his back yard from the driveway.

Sparer has more than 30 plant types in his front and back yard, including Buffalo juniper, red tip photina, Mexican bird of paradise, shiny xylosma, India hawthorn, crape myrtle and lantanas.

Lantanas, water-efficient plants that grow yellow, purple and yellow and red blossoms, bloom throughout the summer, said Peter Kellerman, a salesman at Plant World on South Eastern Avenue. "Purple trailing lavenders will sprawl over rocks and look nice."

Planting water-efficient plants doesn't mean that people can't have lush plants, Kellerman added. "Gardens don't have to look sparse. They don't have to be sticks or cactus."

For a green lush look, Kellerman recommends low-water-use plants, such as compact myrtles.

Kellerman said that many customers from Arizona and California want to plant bouganvillea, which does well in dry areas, but not Southern Nevada.

"It grows tremendously in California and parts of Arizona," he said. "But it's a tough one to grow out here. It thrives on heat but it doesn't like the cold. Californians and people from Arizona ask for it because it's the most colorful.

"You really have to work with the plant if you want it to grow (here)."

Because Southern Nevada is at a higher elevation and farther north than Arizona, plants are more susceptible to colder temperatures than low water-use plants in Arizona, Duncombe said.

A lot of people moving to Las Vegas from other regions have to change their landscaping ideas, he said. "We are in one of the hottest, driest climates and there are challenges with the soil.

"You can grow just about anything here with enough water, energy and time," he explained. "(But) make it easy on yourself and easy on the environment. It takes a great deal of skill to beat nature."

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