| What should we be growing
in our gardens? Problem
solving with special design ideas.
\
Our climate is hot, dry, with bright sunshine, cold
winters, little snow and occasional terrific storms.
Our soils are alkaline, low in organic matter, low in
nitrogen and high in potassium.
Therefore: we should select plants that need little
water, tolerate alkaline soils, tolerate low humidity, and do not suffer
when placed in the bright sun.
Landscape design ideas from England.
|
Native plants of New Mexico will fill the bill. They are unique. People
from other areas of the country would love to be able to grow some of our
natives but that requires that they take excessive measures to make the
climatic changes that would be required.
Over the state of New Mexico life zones vary widely from Sub Saharan in
the south east corner to low Alpine in the northwest.
If you can choose plants that are suitable for the life zone you are
living in you can have a unique garden.
We should take advantage of the plants that grow here
naturally to create our own unique landscape style. Our gardens should not
look like a garden in Virginia or New England or the Pacific Northwest. It
should capitalize on the assets of our area.
You can find many lists of suitable plants for many different
purposes here on this web site and on hundreds of other sites on the
Internet. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has a plants data base
where the characteristics of many plants can be found. Pictures of many of
them may be found there.
|
|