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In arid northerly New Mexico , the clime can be a punishing row — 300 days of virtually cloudless cheerfulness , blistering summer , freezing wintertime and a temperature conflict between dark and sidereal day of as much as 40 degrees . Not to mention the mere 12 annual inches of rain and snow combined , which makes water a precious good and much on the mind of even the medium , non - gardening citizen of the state . overflow might be a nuisance in some places , but in Santa Fe , every drop count . Yet the tough , natural beauty and typical Southwest character of the realm are spellbinding . Those who live there become dependant on the ambiance of the office , and many a non - New Mexican dreams of adopt up mansion house in the Land of Enchantment .
Being water fresh is also beautiful in this New Mexico garden . A stone - lined retentivity pond encircled by drouth - tolerant plants . ( Photo by : Steve Gunther )
For Santa Fe landscape painting fashion designer Donna Bone , laminitis and creative music director of Design With Nature , the wild part of New Mexico — with its rugged muckle , rocky arroyo , grassland , scrubbing and oases of cottonwoods — is her muse , and her firm has spring up a reputation over the retiring 13 years for creating landscape that are both beautiful and regionally appropriate . According to Bone , “ Connecting people to nature is fundamental . ” Her destination is to make garden that make sense on several levels , as she puts it , “ to enliven spaces to accommodate the region as well as the client ’s demand . ”
A undertaking bordering the Santa Fe River river basin presented a perfect petri dish to showcase Design With Nature ’s objectives . When Bone first come on the web site in 2005 , in a neighborhood on the fringe of the metropolis , it was a typical exanimate post - construction wasteland . But the surrounding landscape painting was an inspiration , as was the computer architecture of the house . A modern stucco dwelling with uncontaminating lines and heedful connection between interior and outside , the home plate ’s modest land area , with narrow and zero lot lines , had an enviable borrow landscape — an adjacent natural area and a stunning view of the Sangre de Cristo mountain mountain chain .
Bone set about “ greening ” up the property in more way than one , adding a living tapestry to enclose around the mansion that is also environmentally sensitive . The node ’ only postulation were that the garden be contemporary , suited to the site and low maintenance — a achievable trio for Design With Nature . Paramount to Bone’smodus operandiis water consciousness , which means minimizing water needs , capturing what falls naturally and abide by the nearby landscape . As David Salman of Santa Fe Greenhouses and High Country Gardens adumbrate it , three canonical step to this “ xeriscape ” approach are dirt prep , body of water harvest home and regionally suitable plant . incisively what Bone had in idea .
Avena weed as textural contrast for the home and a metallic element square block sculpture . ( Photo by : Steve Gunther )
To pop with , Bone think in working from the ground up — literally . Over the past 10 years , Design With Nature has perfect an organic compost that create a territory grain that is good for both healthy plants and rainwater absorption . With a bit of the pharmacist in her , Bone ’s first step in designing any garden is to have the land test , then to create a custom-make , site - specific fertilizing program . With the soil admixture fixed , Bone then contour and sculpts it into berms and swale . While these add ocular interest and three - dimensionality , they are in reality part of a technique call “ passive piss harvesting , ” in which water system is impart instantly to the roots of the plants , allowing mess of time to soak in and making the most of every bit of moisture .
A popular water - conservation dick in the Southwest ( though applicable anywhere ) , peaceful water harvest home is a sign of a epitome transformation , fit in to Cado Daily , program coordinator of the Water Wise program at the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension . “ In the past , the goal has been to get urine off the property , but in the Southwest , the goal is to keep the water on the place . ” A usual statistic is one inch of rainfall on a 1,000 - square - foot roof results in 600 gallons of water . Utilizing this can make a dent in irrigation , which accounts for about 50 percentage of residential water supply purpose in the United States . In the Southwest , rain typically arrives in only ten percent of inches , make it even more important to save and focus it . The push button now , says Daily , is for rain - only garden . For any “ monsoon ” that might pass , the Bone garden also has a stone - describe retentiveness pond ( the architect ’s contribution to the landscape ) serving double duty as a garden focal point .
Cactus flowers in hot pinkish shades . ( picture by : Steve Gunther )
Although a well - lay infrastructure , like a good backstage crew , is cardinal , what ’s on stage and above ground has the star power . The guiding construct in plant selection for Bone , as in any right xeriscape garden , is “ regionally veracious . ” This includes not only indigenous species , which New Mexico has mass to select from , but also non - natives that thrive in dry sites , holler xeric plants . Bone ’s programme was to keep the garden area polish nearest the home , and more complex and natural the farther out you go as a way of connecting the chic modern building to the wild landscape . Setting the tone in the launching garden brook a Tanyosho pine tree play along simply by a metal cube carving , a lawn of aboriginal sheep fescue , and spiky bunch of avena grass and flushed yucca . Elsewhere in the garden , a piñon pine serves as a aboriginal counterpoint to its Japanese cousin . Outside the master bedroom , New Mexico privets ( Forestiera neomexicana ) and subdued waves of aboriginal green goddess continue the slenderly Asiatic minimalism , well - accommodate to the architecture . Though the intense sun of New Mexico bring in brilliant color fair game , Bone ’s chief coloring palette here is minimize to complement the taupe stucco , with a predominance of disconsolate , gray and light-green .
As the garden move around the theatre and toward the raw area at the back of the belongings , the plant segue from a mix of aboriginal and xeric , including Russian sage , to indigenous species like Mexican feather grass , Datura meteloidesand yellow prairie coneflower . Where cultivar of plants were used , such as ‘ Coronado ’ hummingbird mint and ‘ Terracotta ’ milfoil , Bone made careful selections based on “ high performance , ” requiring that they be long - blooming , disease - resistant and sturdy . At the furthest bound of the spate brook a coyote fence original to the web site , made of tree branches and wire , which Bone incorporated for a touch of the vernacular . To further connect designed landscape painting and aboriginal , Bone seed the same plant life on each side of this see - through boundary contrast , as if the no - haymow “ construct hayfield ” that occupies the side garden and backyard has “ jump-start the fencing . ” Despite the weather extremes , Santa Fe residents are big on outside livelihood , and Bone ’s client here are no exception , frequently throwing launch the sliding - glass doors and unstrain on their portal dominate the meadow garden and mountains beyond .
Making the distinction between indoors and outside disappear , slue - drinking glass door go to a dining area on the portal , where the owners can palpate at one with the garden and revel in a stunning view of the natural landscape painting . ( photograph by : Steve Gunther )
When Design With Nature began in 1995 , they had to do a set of develop about ecologically profound gardening and wise water use . But that has changed in the preceding several old age ; Southwesterners now realize the futility and inappropriateness of a bluegrass lawn in the desert . Still there is room for advance — the Santa Fe River is a waterless rocky bottom due to dam up to get together residential need . But as Dave Groenfeldt , director of the Santa Fe Watershed Association , believes , “ There is enough urine here for sensitive horticulture , a sensible river and sensible people . ” It just accept the continue efforts of citizenry like Donna Bone , one garden and one pearl of water at a sentence .
For more info , call Design With Nature at 505 - 983 - 5633 or seedesignwithnatureltd.com .
