HENDERSON, Nev. - The holidays are here. For Ethel M Cactus Garden curator Steve Bowdoin and his landscaping team, ‘tis the season to get poked and pricked - stringing thousands of tiny colorful lights around thorny, uncooperative cactuses.
"You know that forever question of ‘How do you do it without getting stuck?' You don't," he said.
Rabbit Ears, Cow's Tongue, and Teddy Bear Cholla are a few of the delicate, native southwest desert cacti at the garden. The names sound tame, but many are mean ornery types that have to be gently wrangled.
"So you've got to be quite a contortionist to get around there without stabbing yourself and damaging the plant," Bowdoin said. "The Twisted Acacia has a thorn about every quarter inch. You have to wear full body armor when you're doing that one."
The challenge is worth it. Six weeks of painful pincushion work becomes a brilliant display of a half-million twinkling lights. Nearly half of those beam with LED energy efficiency to amp up the garden's greenness. LED's need less repair and replacement, so they're more cost-effective and colorful than old-fashioned incandescent lights.
"The color spectrum is limitless - the pinks, the blues, the purples, the oranges," Bowdoin said.
This year, the garden is providing 3-D glasses for an ultimate starry night experience. "Imagine if you're looking across the garden at 40,000 lights and you see nothing but snowflake effects or starry effects. It's really a cool effect to do," Bowdoin said.
After nearly 20 years, you may think you've seen all the garden has to offer, but Bowdoin says changing light technology and Mother Nature put on a new show each year.
"One, we planted it that way, but secondly, nature does that for us," he said. "They grow. They change. The plants change. They have to be pruned so the display is never the same."
Steve has one ultimate goal for the garden. "I would like someday to have a million lights in here," he said. "Once we get transformed into LED more, we'll get to put more lights in, because you can put more lights in, because you're using less power."
The Cactus Garden lights up Tuesday night from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Ethel M Chocolate Factory at 2 Cactus Garden Drive in Henderson. The event features chocolate samples, local choirs, an appearance by Santa Claus and holiday performance by Zowie Bowie and Michael Grimm. Comedian George Wallace is hosting the event.
The holiday garden will be open to the public nightly from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. through January 1st.
