The DOs & DON'Ts of Landscape Lighting

On April 8, David Bilik of Twilight Designs will illustrate the DOs and DON’Ts of landscape lighting so that we can relax and entertain in our gardens at nighttime as well the daylight hours. Where should lights be placed for maximum dramatic impact, safety, and security when the sun goes down? What is the longest-lasting, lowest-maintenance type? Are solar lights worth the investment?

May 13 brings the highly anticipated, annual tour of six gardens right here in SCA, with superb examples of cacti and succulents, roses, wildflowers, irises, fruit trees, and vegetable plants among many others. This will be followed in June by our annual luncheon held in the Independence Courtyard, catered by From Palette to Palate, before we adjourn indoors to see a narrated slide show of the gardens tour.

After a respite from the heat in July and August, we resume our program in September with a valuable presentation on tree selection and care by arborist and Instructor Master Gardener, Laura Eisenberg. Our annual field trip in October will be to the UNR Extension Botanic Gardens in Las Vegas, where master gardeners will give us a guided tour demonstrating how they grow roses, cacti, vegetables, herbs, bulbs and irises, fruit trees, palms, etc. to perfection.

Rounding out the year, ever-popular Master Gardener Gail Brandys will return in November to talk about the benefits of growing Nevada’s native plants in the garden and promises to have free seeds to distribute. Finally, by popular demand, an updated reprise of a comprehensive talk on Nevada’s hummingbirds and their garden plants is scheduled for December. Will Santa show up with gifts again?

We meet in the Penn/Morris/Nelson Rooms of the Independence Center from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. on the second Monday of each month except July and August. Free coffee, tea, and cookies are available from 9:00 a.m. Sun City residents are welcome to attend two meetings/year without joining. Dues for 2024 are $15; checks may be made payable exactly to: Sun City Anthem Community Association, Inc. with “Garden Club’ on the memo line. Enrollment forms are also available at the Anthem Center kiosk and on our website (https://garden.scaclub.org) and can be placed in the Garden Club mailbox located outside Anthem's Fitness Center along with your check payable as above. Feel free to email any questions about the Club to its president, Dr. Alec Pridgeon (apridg1@gmail.com).