Over a decade ago on this show, I talked about the opening of Cooperative Extension’s office in Green Valley. Since then, I haven’t given an update, and I really should. It’s a terrific place, with amazing gardens for people to visit.
Cooperative Extension’s a distinct college of the university, but we don’t work with traditional students, and don’t work in conventional college classrooms. My job is to teach unbiased, research-based material to people who don’t get to university courses. I’m a UNR professor, although I almost never go to Reno. I do virtually all my work in Southern Nevada, mainly in Clark County. In fact, it’s because of Clark County that we have such a great site.
Our offices are much more than just offices; I’ve been remiss, not letting you know it’s a botanical garden, full of teaching areas open to the public.
Although I personally call it “the back 40”, the space is technically known as the “Outdoor Education Center” – the OEC – acres of diverse plants and landscapes. I hope I’ll make you want to take an educational stroll around the grounds. We have nearly 2,000 desert and desert adapted plants, not counting the edible ones we’re also growing.
For instance, say you wanted to learn about the cacti and succulents that’ll do best in Southern Nevada. You can come on over and see the more than 50 varieties thriving in our cactus garden, or the hundreds of yucca, aloe and agave species.
We have dozens of desert trees thriving here, and many examples of hardy palms.
Maybe you’re thinking about buying a composter and don’t know what’s best for your situation. Of course, you’re more than welcome to take my Composting in Small Places class in March, but until then, come to the OEC and examine our dozen or so different types of compost bins and tumblers.
Most Mojave gardeners have learned, through bitter experience, that growing plants in raised beds is the usually best way to keep them alive and flourishing. Even so, there’s a lot of raised bed kits and directions available in stores, catalogs and on the web.
It shouldn’t be a surprise to hear that not everything you can buy, or read on the internet, works in our dry little desert. We’re using several types of raised beds, and we have so much information on the ones that didn’t survive in this challenging environment.
Who doesn’t want their own fresh vegetables and herbs? We have information and exhibits for growing both.
Raising milkweed’s become a popular activity. It’s a way to help protect the population of Monarch butterflies, which is becoming more and more threatened by pesticides and loss of habitat. There’re quite a few different kinds of milkweed, and we have about 25 species growing in the Outdoor Education Center.
We have a mini orchard, but unlike most orchards, this isn’t really for fruit production. Yes, we have the cultivars that produce delicious peaches, plums and everything else, but I’ve designed it so people can see why we tell them to prune their trees, and what happens when they don’t.
Roses do surprisingly well in the desert, and the rose garden here is wonderful, with well over 20 varieties and cultivars.
Even though most gardeners need to fix small problems with their irrigation occasionally, it’s still a big mystery to many of us. The irrigation demo area has most types of sprinklers, drippers, bubblers, and emitters for you to see.
There’s a beautiful natural wash full of native plants growing without supplemental water.
What makes this a terrific teaching area is: first, almost all these gardens thrive because Southern Nevada Master Gardeners donate their time and talents to them, and second, the plants are clearly identified with both their common and scientific names. You don’t need to go on a formal tour with Master Gardeners, but we do have those as well. Call the help line for more information.
For KNPR’s Desert Bloom, this is Dr. Angela O’Callaghan of the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension. We’d love to have you come for a visit.