Variety of plants create a yard full of color

Master gardener Denise McConnell's yard features more than 30 kinds of plants blazing in color.

McConnell designed and installed her own landscape. She has a love for drought-tolerant plants similar to those found in Mediterranean landscapes.

McConnell learned landscaping under horticulturist John Smith and now teaches it to Nevada Cooperative Extension master gardeners.

McConnell is speaking to the Sunset Garden Club at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Paseo Verde Library, 280 S. Green Valley Parkway in Henderson, and it's free. Her subject is "Things Your Mother Never Told You About the Birds and Bees and Butterflies, Too."

Mystery was on her mind when designing her yard. A yucca sits in her front yard commanding your attention. At its base runs a desert wash filled with rocks and broken blue glass to suggest water. Nearby Australian racer, orange lantana, yellow dog weed, bright red coral fountain and mallow reach into the wash for moisture.

Texas olive covered with white flowers and Tecoma stans covered with orange flowers towers above. Both plants will lose their leaves, but hiding behind are purplish hopseed bush and lime-green potato vines for winter color.

Between two blooming turpentine bushes are stepping-stones. My curiosity took me to a hidden bench, where McConnell sits watching bees and hummingbirds gather nectar. She calls the front yard her hot garden.

Across the driveway, she uses white oleander, white lantana, purple desert petunia, verbena and May night sage in her cool garden. Peeking out from under the lantana is a dwarf euonymus. It becomes dominant after the lantana freezes. Sticking out of the purple desert petunia is an arching cactus that takes center stage when that petunia freezes.

Bougainvillea welcomed me into the backyard. Cat claw vine caught my attention covering window shutters filtering out the sun.

McConnell planted bright red lantana bushes at her entrance. Because of her narrow yard, she trellised them to get depth. A shoestring acacia towers over them with its weeping branches to add to the show.

Her raised-bed garden caught my eye. She made it out of 24-inch wide corrugated steel. Its height lifts the garden up, becoming a perfect place to sit while gardening.

Now, a surprise: There is a 4-foot-tall table made from an olive tree, which once shaded her yard. It was either grow vegetables or shade the yard and veggies won out. Her brother had to cross-section a giant ponderosa pine to make her tabletop. She now uses the table to prepare her vegetables.

Olive is hard to kill. Her first inclination was to kill it, but olive sprouts developed and she created a six-inch-high formal hedge around her tree stump.

In conclusion, towering shiny xylosmas once covered her backyard. She stripped off the bottom branches to reveal gnarling trunks that are beautiful. They were in full bloom and were covered with bees. You'll find a pool of water for her bees, birds and butterflies to drink from.

Garden art fills her yard. My favorite was the sign, "Trespassers will be composted."

WHAT'S BUGGING YOUR GARDEN

Not all insects in the garden are pests. Many are harmless and beneficial to your garden. Join Cari Taylor and me to learn how to identify pests and appropriately control and manage your garden while minimizing environmental risks. That's at 8:30 a.m. Saturday at the Springs Preserve, 333 Valley View Blvd. Call 822-7786 for reservations.

Linn Mills writes a garden column each Sunday. You can reach him at linn.mills@springspreserve.org or call him at 822-7754.