College of Southern Nevada sale celebrates native plants

Join staff and master gardeners for free workshops and opportunities to acquire rare, native and extraordinary desert plants for your countryside.

The event runs from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the garden center, 6221 W. Charleston Blvd. For more information, call 651-5050.

While at the sale, learn how to create successful landscapes in our parched climate. The festivities focus on expanding your plant palate to offer food and territory for wildlife, birds and butterflies in your garden year-round.

The advantages of using indigenous plants are countless: They save water, time and money; foster a sense of place; and add wildlife and bird diversity to your backyard.

Mojave natives evolve over centuries; hence, they are adapted to our poor soils with little rainfall, cold winters and hot summers.

These plants thrive for even the laziest gardener, are more resistant to pests and need less nourishment. They give visitors to your garden a sense of the need to preserve the stability and beauty of your shared natural environment.

Planting with wildlife and birds in mind adds to the aesthetics of your yard. Plants are one of the most important considerations for these critters. There are three simple steps in attracting them to your yard: provide food, shelter and water as part of your scenery.

One of the simplest ways to begin is by replacing your lawn with native trees, shrubs and wildflowers. The structure, leaves, seeds, flowers and fruits of these plants provide food and shelter for wildlife, including the Mojave’s very own desert tortoise.

At this festive sale, sponsors are offering plants that go a long way toward providing food and habitat for your wildlife friends in your yard.

Among the plants offered, penstemons are very showy summer bloomers, which come in many colors, providing nectar for hummingbirds and butterflies. They come from the Mojave, Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts to give new life to aging Texas Rangers and work wonderfully near walkways, under desert trees and in rockscape.

Palmer’s penstemon is a large, showy, gray-green plant with white to pink blooms rising 6 feet high, perfect next to almost any plant. Cardinal and Firecracker penstemons feature scarlet-red flowers with deep green foliage.

The desert willow is an underutilized Mojave native offered at this year’s sale. This tough tree offers shade while providing nesting habitat, and as an added bonus, a profusion of tubular flowers for hummingbirds throughout the summer.

As development in the Las Vegas Valley booms, the presence of quail and other birds has waned. Help encourage these birds by planting hardy honey mesquites with the drought-hardy saltbush underneath.

Saltbush provides a dense ever-silver hedge, perfect for windbreaks or screening from traffic, and provides seeds and nesting sites for birds. This year’s sale offers a saltbush for every landscape, including desert holly, four wing saltbush and quail brush.

You’ll also be able to purchase butterfly plants. This year’s selections are showy asters. Many come from the Mojave, are very glitzy and drought tolerant; with prince’s plume, green brittlebush, goldeneye and Mojave aster available. Other butterfly-friendly wildflowers will be showcased, including chocolate flower and pincushion flower.

Design considerations you need to include:

* Select plants that produce seeds, nuts and fruits for diverse food sources throughout year.

* Condition soil by adding mulch to sustain beneficial, soil-based insects and organisms.

* Include birdbaths for drinking and washing. Locate water in open areas and keep containers shallow with gently sloping sides and rough surfaces for easy access and escape.

* Some birds perch high in trees, while others forage under shrubs, so choose plants of varying heights to provide nesting and roosting opportunities for different birds.

* Design areas that can retain leaf litter, and fruit- and nut-drop to provide additional food and habitat, particularly for beneficial insects.

* Deep gravel can be a drawback as mulch. It allows creepy crawling insects to escape into the rocks and seeds tend to fall through crevices beyond the reach of birds.

Maintenance consideration for your oasis:

* Allow plants to go to seed. Don’t remove spent flowers, fruit and berries.

* Insects are an important food source for birds and wildlife, so learn to tolerate them.

* Stay away from our kinds of food. Wildlife can quickly become dependent on these, going against natural food sources, which may be damaging to them as time goes on.

* Use only organic methods for pest control.

* Avoid using sticky traps to remove rodents; they may trap your desired wildlife.

* Let lower branches of shrubs extend to the ground as escape cover for small birds and associates.

* Keep shrubs trimmed near walkways to avoid potential injury to visitors.

* Avoid the temptation to clean up leaves, pine needles and seedpods on the ground. These products create natural mulch for birds to dig in to find insects.

* Supply plenty of escape covers if your friendly visitors need to make a quick exit to survive.

* Natural, mounded-shape desert shrubs allow prey to disappear, making it difficult for a larger predator to follow.

* Keep replenishing water because it can become dirty. Place water in a shallow dish for bathing and drinking out in the open so you can observe their behavior.

UNLV GARDEN LECTURE SERIES

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas and associates have lined up some excellent classes to help make your dream landscape come true. Lectures take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Barrick Museum on campus. Notable experts on cactuses and succulents will be on hand.

Saturday programs include Caring for Cactus, 10 a.m.; Planting Large Cactus, 11:30 a.m.; Xeriscape Garden Tour, 12:30 p.m.; Planting Small Cactus in Pots, 1:30 p.m.; and Designing with Succulents, 2 p.m.

On Sunday, classes include All You Want to Know About Cactus, 10:30 a.m.; The Cactus Venture, 12:30 p.m.; Creating a Succulent Bowl, 1:30 p.m.; Best Cactuses and Succulents for Southern Nevada 2 p.m.

For more information, call 895-1421.

Linn Mills writes a gardening column each Sunday. You can reach him at linn@reviewjournal.com or at the Gardens at the Springs Preserve at 822-8325.