A tale of two gardens

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. We went to stunningly beautiful Death Valley last month.  We finished up with a night in glitzy Las Vegas.

Lots of people love Las Vegas. I can now definitively report that I am not among them. Although the energy and the lights are fun, there's a little too much plastic there for my taste, and it's all surrounded by lung-defying clouds of cigarette smoke. Another strike against Las Vegas is its lack of gardens. I did a search for public gardens and came up with zero.

So we went the Bellagio. It's a well-known casino and hotel with a phenomenal Dale Chihuly glass ceiling in its lobby. The Bellagio is also known for its conservatory and botanical gardens, so this being the city of bigger and better, I was looking forward to a horticultural treat.

Beautiful, glowing flowers! This was promising.

On we walked, into the Conservatory. I read that the Bellagio has 120 people working on its horticultural staff, and the Conservatory display is changed five times a year.

This theme was the Chinese New Year - the Year of the Horse. Acorus graminius, anyone?

Color was everywhere, in an over-the-top mash-up of foliage and flowers.

Bromiliads figured prominently, as did chrysanthemums.

The plants appeared to be in nursery pots, rather than planted into beds. The whole effect was rather like a huge, inverted Rose Festival parade float.

I did love this Mandarin orange tree full of fruit.

But I gotta say, my Clivia looks better than theirs did.

After a quick look in the Chihuly gallery and shop, we asked a staffer how to get to the botanical gardens. It turned out that the Conservatory was it - there were no more gardens. Somewhat disappointed, we high-tailed it out of that hothouse of a garden.

We still had several hours left before we needed to catch our flight home, so we looked for something outdoors to do. The University of Nevada, Las Vegas was quite close so we found our way to the campus. We figured they'd at least have somewhere we could hang out and enjoy our last few hours of warm desert air.

Eureka! We found the Donald H. Baepler Xeric Garden. Completed in 1988, it was the the first large-scale demonstration garden of its kind in the Las Vegas Valley. 

The contrast of this restrained garden with the excess of the Bellagio Conservatory was exactly what we had hoped for. It had flowers, yes, but flowers in desert style.

The fascinating husks left by last year's fruit added great winter interest to these unidentified shrubs.

The garden winds around and between several of the campus buildings. It features plants from Australia, South America, Mexico, the Mediterranean and plants native to the four desert regions of North America.

This pretty, airy tree is Texas-Ebony, Pithecellobium flexicaule.

The plant ID signs were nicely done and contained the kind of information I'd want if I were a local looking to add xeric plants to my landscape. Unfortunately, fewer than half the plants were labeled, but I was able to ID a number I liked.

The age of the garden meant there were many wonderful mature specimens of plants and trees.

I loved the subtle interplay of shapes and muted color in the plantings.

It was a satisfying garden in so many ways and a great way to end our time in Las Vegas.