Serving Homeowners & Professionals of New Mexico & West Texas
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What's New!
Apr.19.2012

Our Southwest Plant Selector (SW Plants) app is coming soon to iTunes! We are thrilled to have partnered with the NM Office of the State Engineer in the development of the app to help homeowners identify suitable plants for their NM and west-TX landscapes. The NM Office of the State Engineer's recently-developed plant database forms the baseline app. We are working toward a May release date. Look for announcements here and on Facebook.

We are on Facebook! Use Facebook to share projects, photos, advice, and resources on creating and maintaining a beautiful, usable, yet water-thrifty landscape. Start a thread... http://www.facebook.com/xericenter .

As of mid-April, our Youtube videos had nearly 16,000 views for the past year! Not a huge number in Youtube-land, but it makes us very happy considering we've done no marketing... yet. Dan Smeal is our star with 7,600 views of his video, How to Set up your Drip Irrigation System. See all 40 at www.youtube.com/xericenter .

We welcome our newest Youtube subscriber, the UTEP Centennial Museum and Chihuahuan Desert Gardens in El Paso, owner of one of the four amazing gardens in our video series. Check out the Museum's Youtube channel, http://www.youtube.com/CentenialMuseumChihu .

About the zones in your yard...
Jan.29.2012

image Did you know you should have three fairly distinct watering zones in your yard? Understanding these zones will help you make good plant and design choices for a low-water, low-maintenance landscape. From our friends at the Xeriscape Council of New Mexico website comes the following commonly-practiced landscape design consideration:

"A good landscape and garden begins with a good design. Water conservation in the garden can be maximized if it is considered in the initial planning phase. Xeriscapes can be divided into zones with different water requirements. An 'oasis', a zone with the highest water use, is usually where people spend more time. The patio area and perhaps the entry area are candidates for the oasis. An oasis receives more water and, as a result, is cooler. This area also may require more maintenance and usually will be the landscape's most colorful area.

Beyond the oasis is a transition zone of moderate water use. The transition zone contains plants that require less frequent irrigation and usually requires less maintenance. Further away may be a low-water-use zone, which requires no supplemental water or very infrequent irrigation during prolonged dry periods. Designing the landscape with areas of differing water demands is called 'hydrozoning'.

'Found water' or 'harvested water' that runs off roofs and paving during storms can be used to reduce the need for supplemental irrigation. Roof runoff can be directed to the oasis or other areas, drastically reducing the need for supplemental irrigation in the moderate- and low-water-use zones. Because water harvesting requires grading to channel and detain runoff, it should be planned when the landscape is designed."

See more tips for creating a water-wise landscape at www.xeriscapenm.com. If you are in the Albuquerque area the weekend of February 25, check out the 2012 Xeriscape Expo at the Fairgrounds. Admittance is free; $5.00 parking. There will be exhibitors, speakers, and prize drawings throughout both days.

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