Spring Home and Garden Show

The Spring Home and Garden Show in Reno runs through 6 p.m. Sunday at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center with the usual dazzling array of hot tubs, cool fountains and lush landscaping. One thing is brand new, however, and it's from Carson City: The Million Dollar Home Theater. A little rich for your blood? You can get the basic unit for only $300,000, and from the preview being shown Thursday it would be worth it - if you've got an extra million to spend.

Otherwise, the show this year is concentrating on landscaping with 20 Nevada Landscape Association displays.

"We are not the desert,"exclaims Debra Drew, NLA director. "They don't call it the Truckee Meadows for nothing. We have some of the most fertile soil in the country, renewable water resources and breathtaking natural landscaping as inspiration.

"People are under the impression that grass is bad (in the Sierra Nevada) and they need to xeriscape their yards," she continues. "But that just isn't the case. We will show the public that they can have a lush landscaping plan and be water conscious. There is harmony."

Hard to argue with that, so put away those ideas of a rock lawn.

Yep, there's the latest in landscaping materials and techniques with help from the NLA, backyard entertaining gear, kitchen and bath remodeling ideas, stonework and pavers, You Can Do It clinics from The Home Depot and even rain gutters.

The show is a kind of digest of what's out there for the gardener or decorator. There's even some Buddha statues at the display of Jessica Schneider's Decorating with Style booth ($85 for a nifty Buddha head), and the endless line up of hot tubs that do everything but wash the car for you.

Questions about projects will be answered at The Home Depot booth. This year they have expanded their You Can Do It clinics to include not only landscaping and gardening techniques, but also universal concerns such as saving on heat and electric bills with a wide range of energy saving products. The NLA will also be on hand to show buyers the latest in sod alternatives, concrete retainers and stone pavers.

Show hours are Saturday 11 a.m.-9 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Admission is $8 for adults, seniors $6, children 6-12 $4 and children under 6 free. (Many booths offer candy treats so maybe the kids won't complain too much.)

Oh, yeah, about that million-dollar theater. Right out of Carson City, it's made by Wisdom Audio and employs the newest technology. A complete theater has been built in a corner of the vast convention center, and it's like no home theater you've ever seen or heard - the first such display attempted at any area home show.

So, put on your walking shoes, grab a compass in case you get lost amid the forest of trees and hot tubs and see what's waiting for you this spring season.

n Contact Sam Bauman at sbauman@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1236.