Time to show off your yard in annual landscape contest
The sun is shining, flowers are popping and that fresh, familiar smell of spring is in the air. After waiting months for those beautiful colors to flourish in your landscape, the time has finally come for your masterpiece to wake up and for you to show it off.
Enter your water-smart landscape in the Southern Nevada Water Authority's annual design contest.
With yards at their peak, the water authority's Landscape Awards competition celebrates the beauty of water-efficient landscaping. Submit your free application to the Landscape Awards competition for a chance to get the recognition you deserve.
The Landscape Awards honor lush, beautiful water-efficient landscapes that are both attractive and practical. Entrants must have a working, water-efficient irrigation system that is appropriate to their design. Water-smart landscapers know that properly irrigated landscapes, even those with a high volume of water-efficient plant life, can use up to 75 percent less water than traditional grass lawns.
The competition is open to residential and professional landscape designs in the water authority's service area, including Boulder City, Henderson, Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Laughlin.
Include with your application four or five color photos that highlight your landscape design and water-efficient features. A panel of local garden and landscape experts use these photos to select finalists, so submit your best photos.
Take photos with the sun at your back between 9 and 10 a.m. or 2 and 3 p.m. to eliminate shadows and direct overhead light.
Each entry will be evaluated on aesthetics, irrigation system, plant selection and mulches.
In addition to the water authority's awards, Star Nursery will recognize one professional and one homeowner for overall color. The Society of Landscape Architects and Nevada Landscape Association will single out landscape professionals who demonstrate exceptional water-smart designs.
Submit your entries by going online at snwa.com or by mail. For more information, call the Conservation Helpline at 258-7283. April 24 is the last day you can enter. Winners will be announced at a ceremony in June.
SPRINGS PRESERVE PLANT SALE
Are you ready to spruce up your garden? Turn off your irrigation and turn on your imagination! Come to the inaugural Springs Preserve plant sale featuring more than 7,000 vibrant and colorful Mojave native and desert-adapted plants. Plan to attend horticulture classes and garden demonstrations throughout the day. You also will be able to purchase books for gardening in the southwest.
This gigantic sale takes place from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 11 at 333 S. Valley View Blvd.
The preserve collects seeds from Mojave native plants and grows them with the purpose of introducing new native species into our landscapes. The sale has what you need to create a functional garden for traditional and xeric gardens, to help you design the landscape of your dreams. They are functional, water-smart and simply beautiful!
Help support your locally grown source of native Mojave plants.
DRIP IRRIGATION
Learn how to install a drip-irrigation system from the street to plants, and how to select and assemble components at this free workshop at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Springs Preserve.
WATER-SMART LANDSCAPE DESIGN SERIES
Discover the seven steps of water-smart landscaping; the basics of landscape design; how to select a theme and plants to bring it to life; and how to plant and maintain your yard in a series of classes starting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday and continuing for the next five Thursdays at the Springs Preserve.
SMALL SPACE AND CONTAINER GARDENING
Just because you have a small yard doesn't mean you can't have a vegetable garden. Learn the basics of container gardening, including simple techniques to add to your style of vegetable garden, at 8:30 a.m. Saturday at the Springs Preserve.
Call 822-7786 to preregister for the classes.
Linn Mills writes a garden column each Sunday. You can reach him at linn.mills@springspreserve.org or call him at 822-7754.
