Water-smart landscapes contest focus

The SNWA Landscape Awards honor creative and beautiful water-smart landscapes. Aestheticism and plant selection are key judging points, so if your landscape is mostly rocks, consider upgrading it with more colorful water-smart plants, trees and shrubs and enter next year.

Entrants must also have a water-efficient irrigation system appropriate to their design. Properly irrigated water-smart landscapes, even those with a large number of water-efficient plants, will use up to 75 percent less water than traditional grass lawns. And mulches improve your chances of entering the winner’s circle.

In addition to the water authority’s awards, program partners also honor contestants through specialized awards. The Star Nursery Color Award recognizes a professional and homeowner who display the best layout, variety of plants, theme and overall vibrancy of color. The Nevada Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects, Nevada Landscape Association and Linn Mills Awards single out landscape professionals who demonstrate exceptional water-smart designs.

All entries must be within the water authority’s service area and are due no later then April 23. Winners will be announced at a special ceremony in June. Entries must include four to six different digital, disk or print color photos of your landscape. Make sure all photos have your name and address attached.

If you’re not sure if your landscape measures up, you can peek at last year’s winners online. Just visit snwa.com and peruse the winning landscapes. It’s a good site to visit if you’re looking for inspiration, too.

‘DANCING INTO SPRING!’

You are invited to the spring flower show sponsored by the Nevada Garden Clubs and Las Vegas Flower Arrangers’ Guild from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. today at the Nevada Garden Club Center, 3333 W Washington Ave. For more information, call 242-9259.

‘CELEBRATE CACTUS!’

Today is the last day of the cactus fest sponsored by the Cactus and Succulent Society of Southern Nevada. It is from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Turner Greenhouse, 4455 Quadrel St. (near Buffalo Drive and Craig Road). For more information, call 645-2032. Experts are available to take you on a tour of two-acres of cactuses and succulents and experts on other aspects of gardening will be on hand to take the toughness out of gardening in our valley.

SPRING ROSE SHOW

Come see the stunning roses grown by Las Vegas Rose Society members and those who exhibit roses. The show is from noon to 4 p.m. April 26 at the West Charleston Library. 6301 W. Charleston Blvd. While there, attempt to pick out your favorite rose. At one time, Double Delight was mine, but after gazing into other roses, I came to the conclusion they are all gorgeous. For more information, call 646-6048.

‘KEEPING AMERICA BEAUTIFUL, ONE IRIS AT A TIME’

Come to this year’s iris show and witness one of nature’s most beautiful flowers in all its glory. Bring your cameras to capture the irises on display. Be sure to fill out your wish list for the sale in June. The sale is from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 20 at the Nevada Garden Club Building, 3333 Washington Ave. For more information, call 876-1524 or 228-0827.

Here are some questions I encountered this past week:

Q: Can you give me a name of a reliable landscape contractor to put in a xeriscape landscape?

A: Go to www.snwa.com and look under landscapes for a list of “Water-Smart Contractors,” who are SNWA trained and certified with emphasis on water conservation and installing proper irrigation systems. If you have questions about contractors you are considering, contact either the Nevada State Contractors Board and Better Business Bureau.

Also, folks contact me about wanting to convert their landscape to a “water-smart landscape.” You need to call 258-7283. The response to convert has been almost overwhelming, so it may take a day or so to get back to you.

Q: Will white evening primroses cause problems like Mexican evening primrose?

A: No, it has a clumping growth habit while Mexican evening primrose spreads by rhizomes. Botanically, its official name is Oenothera caespitosa. It gets about a foot high and spreads as wide with a clump of narrow, long fuzzy gray-green leaves. But now the good part, it covers itself with fragrant, two- to three-inch wide white flowers that will cause your visitors to stop and take a gander. Right now, this plant is in full bloom across the valley and is beautiful.

Q: We have a groundcover we call Australian Runner that is out of control. Can I prune it back so it will fill in the dead spots?

A: You are referring to Myoporum. It picked up the name Australian Runner because it grows so fast. It covers itself with white starlike flowers that collectively looks like a patch of snow. Yes, you can prune it back to fill in the spots with vengeance. Avoid overhead watering to avoid dieback.

Q: We bought a bare-leafed flowering plum to use as an accent in our yard, but when the leaves emerged they were green. The tree was covered with blooms. Did we make a mistake?

A: There are more than a dozen different varieties of flowering plums with different colors of leaves.

Q: We are getting ready to plant some shrubs. When do we start pruning them?

A: About the only pruning needed is some corrective nipping. You don’t want to remove the plant’s growing points, as they generate hormones to stimulate root development.

Q: My cassias are beautiful. When do I prune them back, as they are now developing seedpods?

A: Prune after blooming, but please don’t hedge or prune them into lollypops as many gardeners do. When lollypopped, it creates such dense growth light can’t reach into the plant to generate new growth. As a result, you end up with a shrub sitting on top an ugly stump, which detracts from the beauty of this shrub. Thin out and remove a third of the older canes to stimulate under growth and next year blooms will cover the bush from the ground up.

Q: What is the most effective way to get rid of roly-polys or pill bugs? They are eating my strawberries and now nibbling on my vegetables.

A: They feed on any organic matter that gets in their path. The best way to control them is to place mulch under the berries. This gives the bugs something to eat, so they will forget about your berries. Pill bugs digest the mulch to improve your soil and you end up enjoying the berries.

Q: Is manure good to put on my strawberries?

A: No, manure brings more salts to the soil and that results in sickly looking plants and smaller berries, something you don’t want. I put sugar and cream on mine! Just kidding!

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