SantaFe.com

Gardening in Santa Fe can be more challanging than in other area with more rainfall and richer soil. However, there are many ways to have lush and charming outdoor spaces without using too much of our most precious resource, water. The first step in creating a xeriscape (or drylands) garden is to carefully choose the plants. Plants such as chamisa, russian sage, yarrow, gallardia, coreposis, penstemons and too many others to name provide bold color with very little supplemental water. The other important steps are proper soil ammending and installing a good irrigation system. There are...

Tuesday, January 15, 2008
by Kendall McCumber

With this season's rains bringing temporary relief to the drought many people are beginning to lament the gardening that they didn't do this year.

With such extreme water restrictions still in place, most of us still see landscaping as a risk instead of an investment. Why garden at all when there is a chance that we may be forced to let everything die? Why not wait until it seems more sure that we can water?

Well, for several reasons. First of all, it takes several years for perennials and shrubs to get established and even more for trees, all of which will make your outdoor living space...

Tuesday, January 15, 2008
by Kendall McCumber

Last article we talked about water harvesting and recycling. This is an over discussed but very important issue with much to be learned from. We are now at a turning point as to how we look at our water resources, both in building and in landscaping. Most homeowners still think of gray water use as annoying tasks like emptying out your bathtub with a bucket and rainwater collection as swampy plastic barrels under the canales. Both kinds of systems can work much more easily and smoothly but it does take an investment in a local expert.

How else can we utilize these great rains for our...

Tuesday, January 15, 2008
by Kendall McCumber

Vegetable growers are just now beginning to experience such delicacies as home grown peaches and tomatoes. There is nothing as sinfully delicious as ripe fresh fruits such as those. I always look forward to this time of year for these harvests because they remind me of just how bountiful and decadent Mother Nature can be.

For flower gardeners, it is much the same. We work all spring and early summer, and for a long time everything seems beautiful but not necessarily awe inspiring. Every summer it will hit me one day towards the end of July that I am there; I am at the peak of summer. And...

Tuesday, January 15, 2008
by Kendall McCumber

There are many ways to enjoy a garden. Your garden will delight all of your senses, but the two most obvious ones are sight and smell. While everyone has heard the expression “stop and smell the roses”, I find that often we don't because we don't know what we are missing. Roses are wonderful to smell if you put your nose to them, or if you cut them to put them on your table. Other flowers can delight the nose with scents from marshmallows to cinnamon to perfume.

Some of my favorite scented flowers reach their peak in August. Often the scents are strongest in the dark, so I make a point of...

Tuesday, January 15, 2008
by Kendall McCumber

As the peak of summer winds down, many of us wonder what to do and what plants will keep a garden interesting in this transition period of (hopefully) the last summer heat and when it cools down.

Annuals often carry us through this change of season, but they are running out of steam and will need to be fed. A well balanced fertilizer is essential at this point because the whole plant needs strength to live another two months. Look for the numbers 20-20-20 on the fertilizer box. Do not be fooled into a high middle number, phosphorus. Though this may stimulate budding early in the summer,...

Tuesday, January 15, 2008
by Kendall McCumber

We all drive by those gorgeous, colorful perennial gardens and wish they were ours. Perennial gardens are pretty simple to install, and if the plants are chosen carefully they will not cause you that much time to maintain or use that much water. In the xeriscape gardening system, zone 1 can be an irrigated perennial bed near the house for garden enjoyment.

One of the main design principles is to design for year round interest. Often it is easy to get seduced by the plant of the season, such as Russian Sage in August and Maixmillian Sunflowers in September. There are, however, wonderful...

Tuesday, January 15, 2008
by Kendall McCumber

Many plants pop into the foreground in September after waiting all season for their chance to shine. It is possible to design a garden that looks great year round by taking note of what stands out each month and finding a spot for a grouping of those plants in your own yard, so that the stars always take turns.

One plant that is just beginning to bloom is the New Mexico Sunflower. Planted in full sun against a wall, it will reward you with six foot stalks of yellow blooms all the way up it. In the shade these plants grow in twists trying to reach the sun, and they end up being very messy...

Tuesday, January 15, 2008
by Kendall McCumber

One type of plant that has much potential in drought prone climates such as our high desert in Santa Fe is succulents. Succulents absorb and store much of their moisture in their foliage so that they are not as dependent on ground water, and like camels, can sustain themselves for many days without rain. Most succulents are groundcovers, and can replace lawns in areas that do not need foot traffic. They are also great for rock gardens and the edges of perennial beds. Many form dense, thick mats, and bloom for much of the summer. I love them for their funky, Dr. Seussesque feel that they...

Tuesday, January 15, 2008
by Kendall McCumber

This week's plant recognition of the week goes to a beautiful pyracantha bush at the corner of Paseo de Peralta and Marcy Street. As you are driving north, look to your right at the stop sign. It is a tall, sprawling pyracantha full of orange berries. What a fall beauty.

Pyracantha are thorny evergreen bushes that can be pruned into hedges or ornamental sculpted bushes. This particularly one is allowed to grow and spread out, which is why it has so many berries. It is placed so that it can spread outward. If you consider pyracahtya, do not plant them too close to a walkway or the thorns...

Tuesday, January 15, 2008
by Kendall McCumber