Mountain’s Edge hosts garden event
Mountain's Edge hosted a desert landscaping seminar as part of its ongoing Demonstration Garden Lecture Series March 31.
"We hold these events every quarter to bring together residents of the community and show them how beautiful seasonal landscaping can be, while still preserving natural resources," said Deonna Stocker, manager of information center operations at the Home Search Café. "The events always are created to be family friendly and our residents enjoy learning new landscaping tips from lectures and discussions with helpful and friendly experts."
The garden is located behind the southwestern master-planned community's Home Search Café. The plants and trees in the garden feature educational signage so that residents can use the same water-smart landscaping in their own yards.
During the event, a slate of panelists discussed methods of protecting plants during springtime, when warm days can be followed by episodes of freezing.
Chris Steiner from TruGreen opened the talk with a thorough description of what constitutes desert and drought-tolerant landscaping. Steiner discussed setbacks homeowners deal with in a climate where freezing can be highly unpredictable, and gave participants tips on how to overcome these challenges.
Doug Bennett, from the Southern Nevada Water Authority, concluded the lecture series with a discussion on water restrictions for spring and the upcoming summer season. Part of his lecture addressed water conservation issues including drought alerts, as well as how to understand the Water Authority's watering schedule.
"Mountain's Edge is dedicated to conserving water throughout the community, and with the guidance of experts like Doug Bennett, residents learned how to integrate water conservation efforts in their own yards," Stocker said.
Doug and Tiffany Johnson said they were pleased to have gained new insights into gardening in the desert climate.
"Having a good-looking yard in this environment isn't easy, and it's great that experts, like we had here today, were able to offer some pointers that made sense," said Doug Johnson, who happened upon the event while visiting the Mountain's Edge's Home Search Café.
In addition to the educational discussions, the day included raffles, a lady bug release and Easter pot painting for kids. The Easter pots allowed children to plant pansies into their pots to take home to start their own gardens.
The children helped the Demonstration Garden staff release several thousand new ladybugs to the garden. Ladybugs help contain pests naturally, without pesticides.
The facility was built as a resource center for the residents of Mountain's Edge to learn about the various drought-tolerant plant materials that can used to create water-smart landscaping. At the garden, residents can walk meandering paths filled with desert-adaptable landscaping. The plants are identified so that homeowners can find the plants at their local nurseries.
Stocker said Mountain's Edge's commitment to water conservation extends throughout the community's landscape and into design guidelines for builders selling homes in the master plan. Those guidelines include the elimination of turf from the front yards in favor of drought-tolerant landscaping, and the understanding that turf usage will be minimal. The water-saving measures have been evaluated by the Southern Nevada Water Authority.
Builders selling subdivisions are: Amstar Homes, Avante Homes, Beazer Homes, D.R. Horton, Engle Homes, KB Home, Kimball Hill Homes, Lennar, Meritage Homes, Pardee Homes, Pulte Homes, R/S Development, Ryland Homes, Toll Brothers, Warmington Homes Nevada and Woodside Homes. Astoria Homes and StoryBook Homes will begin sales this summer.
The sales offices are at the community's entrance on Buffalo Drive and Blue Diamond Road. For more information, call 898-5777 or visit mountainsedge.com. Offices are open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.
