There are some unique considerations when creating a Taos garden design or full landscape. If you live in Taos (or are considering living in Taos) then you probably realize it is a very special place, for lots of reasons! I’m writing to focus on one: our landscapes and landscape potential. You can’t go wrong following these four rules for great garden and landscape designs.
Rule #1: Don’t Let Your Garden Design Hide the Amazing Views
Taos has amazing vistas and views. These should be enhanced in a good design, never compromised. Enhancing a view can be achieved with hardscape elements, trees and even shrubs or grasses. A stunning view can only benefit with careful placement of these elements in the landscape. We don’t want to risk blocking any aspect of our scenery, so size, shape and especially mature size of plant materials should be carefully considered. What you want to achieve is a path for your eye to follow so you are led to the view. You want it to be simple and interesting, but not so busy that your eye lingers on the element rather than the view. Having an evergreen to one side and another tree – different type and shape – on the other can pull your eye upwards. A row of a repeating element such as a line of grasses can provide a foundation for the view.
Rule #2: Tie Your Landscape to Its Surroundings
Often our homes sit in our sere desert scapes or sagebrush flats. Our adobe homes have a sense of belonging here. Thus it is important to tie our home’s landscape to the surroundings. A riot of blooming color adjacent to endless sagebrush is incongruous. Frequently we have walled patio areas that provide a natural separation. But even in this situation it adds legitimacy to your landscape to integrate a little into sagebrush. A few well-placed evergreens such as concolor fir or pinon pine connect beautifully with sagebrush. If chamisa (rabbitbrush) isn’t occurring naturally you can add a few clumps of that in the sagebrush for late summer pops of color. These are plants that play well together, both visually and horticulturally. Do note however that sagebrush should be cleared away from anything else you’re trying to grow as it inhibits the growth of its neighbors.
Rule #3: Use Native Elements in Your Taos Garden Designs
By the same token, we should introduce some native elements into our more intimate and close-in gardens. If you love sagebrush, let there be one unique sagebrush plant and prune it to enhance its natural character. Chamisa can be unruly, but there is a dwarf variety that can fit into a snug corner, especially nice if it has a place to drape. Some character rocks, especially of volcanic origin are right at home in our landscapes. A conscientious Taos garden design will feature plants either native to northern New Mexico or those well adapted to our climate and not invasive. A few excellent examples are Hummingbird Flower, Agastaches, Penstemons, Blonde Ambition Blue Grama Grass, Fernbush and English Lavender.
Rule #4: Adobe Walls Are a Natural Canvas for Vines
Our beautiful adobe walls can also be enhanced with a well-placed character shrub or evergreen. There are many vines that grow beautifully in Taos and can break up the linearity of a wall. It is important to install a good trellis on the wall prior to planting. Preferably the trellis should be bolted to the wall (with spacers giving the vine room to wrap behind the trellis). Many vines accumulate a great deal of weight over the years and can otherwise come tumbling down.
If you’d like to design a new landscape or improve an existing one and are unsure of where to start, contact me and let’s set a time to talk.