Sustainable Desert Living Ideas from Springs Preserve Las Vegas

Springs Preserve in Nevada is surrounded by the urban nightlife of Las Vegas. While there, it is easy to forget that its botanical garden and the neighboring big city live side-by-side in the Mojave Desert.

Edged by 2.5 miles of trails and surrounded by the remainder of the 180-acre cultural and historical institution, the Springs Preserve botanical garden is filled with desert living ideas. For gardeners who live in Las Vegas, but also for those who grow gardens in similar desert environments, the 8-acre botanical garden is worth a visit. Gardeners will find plant ideas that enable one to grow a garden that will thrive in the extreme dry environment.

Plants and Gardens Growing at Springs Preserve

Visitors to Springs Preserve will traverse concrete and gravel walk paths to see garden displays growing more than 1,200 native species and other plants that have acclimated to desert living. Plants native to the Mojave Desert at Springs Preserve were started from seed collected in the Las Vegas Valley. As Springs Preserve states, ‚”Making the plants genetically true and better adapted to the climate.”

The wetland display is a composite of ornamental grasses that meld together to make an excellent habitat for wildlife, even in the desert. Aquatic species of sedges, cattails and reeds growing in the wetlands produce filtered wastewater from the Springs Preserve making it reusable for irrigating the gardens.

The dry washes exhibited at Springs Preserve demonstrate how the part-time streams benefit the Las Vegas Valley. The dry washes, also called desert sponges, carry storm water, generated from fast and furious spring and fall seasonal rains, away thus creating a temporary oasis for plants and wildlife.

Plant material gardeners will see at Springs Preserve range from ornamental trees to native cactus. Consider these varieties found at Springs Preserve:

• Cercis canadensis var. texsinsis, Texas redbud, is a more drought tolerant form than the popular Eastern redbud.
• Artemisia arborescens ‘Powis Castle’ is a wormwood plant that has fine grayish, almost white, leaves and tiny yellow flowers.
• Yucca brevifolia, more usually known as the Joshua tree, is a native plant in the Mojave Desert.
• Nasella cemua, nodding needle grass, creates an airy appearance, but has tough tolerance for dry environments. It is a California native plant.
• Pyracantha ‘Santa Cruz’ commonly called firethorn is a spreading shrub hardy in zones 7 – 9. It has small white flowers in early summer and red fruit that hold on into December.
• Olea europaea ‘Swan Hill’ does not produce fruit but is worthwhile for the tree canopy it develops with dark green evergreen leaves.
• Opuntia bigelovii is a succulent that develops upright stems. The Teddy bear cholla native cactus has wicked thorns but soft-yellow colored spring flowers.
• Tetraneunis acaulis, called four-nerve daisy, has a clumping form with yellow daisy-like flowers. The plant thrives best in dry open grounds.

Growing a garden using plant ideas that thrive in a desert environment will ensure long-term sustainability and gardening success for Nevada residents that live in low desert environments.

Springs Preserve Buildings Greenest in Nevada

When built, the Springs Preserve plans followed the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design strategy. The goal for the buildings was to be considered the greenest in Nevada, that was met and Springs Preserve achieved LEED’s platinum level certification.

Part of the Springs Preserve is the Desert Living Center that provides local citizens and, as well out-of-town visitors, access to interactive exhibits that employ sustainable desert living principles. Encompassing the Desert Living Center are buildings such as the Sustainability Gallery allowing visitors to see how sustainability can answer today’s environmental issues. The Design Lab and Resource Library provide training and research materials for local residents who want to make their own home more green-friendly.

The Springs Preserve buildings and surrounding grounds employ more than 2,200 photo voltaic arrays covering the parking spaces generating approximately 75 percent of the institution’s power. In addition, evaporative cooling towers and straw-bale insulation are used.

Garden Visitors at Springs Preserve

Gardeners who visit Springs Preserve will have a lot to see, especially if interested in how to grow gardens in a desert environment. The institution has educational interactive experiences in and around the botanical gardens such as the wetland habitat and the gardens amphitheater.

A plant introduction tour is available to garden visitors on Saturdays and Sundays and plants can be purchased in the gift shop, as well. The Springs Preserve website has an Ask the Gardener feature, which allows one to submit questions, and photos, about plants seen in the gardens.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1978, the cultural institution seeks to remember the Las Vegas Valley’s history and educate the public about its plants and wildlife.

Other botanical gardens in Las Vegas include the ever-changing Bellagio indoor conservatory open free to the public and a botanical cactus garden at a chocolate factory. The neighborhood demonstration garden in nearby Henderson is also free to the public planted and maintained by the local extension master gardeners.