Part of the landscape: Desert plants, trees soak up the sun at UNLV arboretum

Wednesday, May 22, 2002 | 8:21 a.m.

Looking at the rich blossoms of a yellow bells shrub, Norman Schilling stated simply, "It's quite showy."

True. The trumpet-shaped flowers clustered on slender branches are an engaging sight to anyone passing by on the University of Nevada, Las Vegas campus.

Relatively drought tolerant, the shrubs are among more than 150 varieties of plants, shrubs and trees that have been planted for study and appeasement on the 335-acre campus.

The Nevada State Legislature in 1985 designated UNLV's campus an arboretum to be used for the study of plants and trees, with a focus on desert plants. The University of Nevada, Reno campus also received the designation.

Though much of UNLV's campus features lush lawns and water-thirsty trees, drought-tolerant plants are sprinkled throughout and can be found in flourishing abundance at its Xeric Garden, next to the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Natural History.

The 2-acre garden is peaceful, fragrant and educational.

"It's become this quiet little place of study and contemplation," said Schilling, supervisor for UNLV's landscape grounds and arboretum.

"This (time of year) is the most intense bloom season, but you can come here almost anytime of the year and find a flower," he said.

In addition to its plant variety, the garden features winding pathways, wooden bridges and covered seating areas.

The garden was designed by Jack Zunino of Jack Zunino & Associates, a landscape architecture firm on South Jones Boulevard, and was installed in the winter of 1987 with the assistance of community volunteers.

Though the campus has temporarily stopped providing brochures for its self-guided arboretum tour (as a result of staff changes in the grounds department), plaques in the Xeric Garden highlight some of the plants. The campus and garden is open to the public.

During this time of year visitors are likely to catch a mix of interesting blooms from the fragrant pompom blossoms of the golden lead ball tree to the multidecked purple blossoms of the chaparral sage.

More interesting plants include the Mexican hat plant, named for its brick-red and yellow petals that droop around a center cone (resembling a hat), and the fried-egg plant (Matilija poppy) named for its tissue-like, floppy, white petals that surround yellow stamens.

Another interesting plant is aromatic chocolate flower, which produces yellow petals and actually smells like chocolate.

Trees in the garden include Desert willow, Monks pepper (also called the chaste tree), honey locust, shoestring acacias, coolibah and Texas red oak. A Mexican elderberry tree at the south end of the garden attracts migratory birds.

More commonly known plants, such as shrubby dogweed, varieties of sage and agave succulent planets, red yuccas, lantanas and ocotillos, fill the garden.

"One of our missions is for people to understand that desert landscaping is not a single cactus surrounded by rocks," Schilling said. "There's so much more than that."

During the 1990s some of the turf areas on the campus were scaled back and redesigned by the university's landscape architecture department to include desert landscaping.

UNLV staff members say that inquisitive dabblers in desert landscaping often visit the Xeric Garden to see plants in their mature stages. Others visit the garden to relax.

Theresa Lemke, who tends to the maintenance of the Xeric Garden on weekdays, said that she sees the same faces in the garden regularly.

"They just love to come and spend a little time here," she said. "Some come and have lunch on the benches.

"Some just want to chat about the garden," she said. "They want to know what to plant and where."