All good things start with a solid plan. Developing a landscape plan saves you not only time and money but also makes it more likely you’ll end up with a beautiful yard. A few generous local landscape architects donated their time and put together some design templates for a typical front yard for our 505Outside subscribers. This month, we’re sharing a mountain-inspired landscape.
The example landscape template below is for a north or east facing yard and creates the effect of a Rocky Mountain forest while using heat and drought tolerant plants that grow well in town. Take a look and get inspired to recreate this in your own yard.
Deer grass is a striking grey green ornamental grass. In late summer and early fall, it produces flower stems that fan out from the base. It looks beautiful by itself, with lower growing perennials and with groupings of grasses as one big mass planting. It can take periods of drought and is low maintenance, only needing a trim about 6” from the ground in late February.
In the heart of Albuquerque, the Rio Grande Bosque includes 4,300 acres of protected cottonwood gallery forest. It’s a great natural space to find inspiration for your own landscape. The bosque is just one of many beautiful open space areas in the greater Albuquerque area that provide recreation, conservation, education, heritage and design inspiration. The plants you see in these natural areas are likely to do well in yards in that same part of town. Plants that are growing near each other will make good combinations in yards as well.
Today, we are highlighting a couple of beautiful natural areas to visit along the Rio Grande, all offering educational opportunities and recreational trails.
Paseo del Bosque Trail
This 16-mile long uninterrupted trail connects Albuquerque’s North and South valleys, starting at Alameda NW next to the Bachechi Open Space. Heading south, the paved trail passes the Rio Grande Nature Center State Park and the Albuquerque BioPark near Central Avenue before ending south of the National Hispanic Cultural Center. Because this is a multiuse trail, you are likely to encounter more than bicyclists, walkers and runners. The trail also is used by people with wheelchairs, in-line skaters, equestrians, families with strollers and others. The City Parks and Recreation Department reminds users to remember that “courtesy and caution are a part of having an enjoyable and safe experience on Open Space trails.”
Paseo del Bosque multi-use trail
Bachechi Open Space
Brought to you by Bernalillo County and located along the Paseo del Bosque Trail south of Alameda NW, Bachechi is a 28-acre open space area with an Environmental Education Building that includes an indoor interpretive area and an outdoor classroom. Here, kids can grab Nature Packs, kid-sized backpacks filled with guides, hands-on supplies and activity sheets to teach kids how to explore the open space area. There are a variety of interpretive trails through native landscaping and migratory waterfowl habitat, which includes blinds for viewing the birds and other wildlife. An arboretum on the northern 8 acres of the property shows off many specimens of trees.
Environmental Education Building at Bachechi Open Space
Rio Grande Nature Center State Park
A New Mexico state park located in the middle of the city, the nature center focuses on bird watching with many wildlife viewing areas overlooking native gardens and ponds. The park also offers many trails, including loop hiking and interpretive trails plus access to the Paseo del Bosque multiuse trail.
Rio Grande Nature Center State Park
Open Space Visitor Center
The City of Albuquerque visitor center has exhibits interpreting the natural and cultural resources the Open Space Division protects. Rotating exhibits feature local artists highlighting New Mexico landscapes. Spacious indoor and outdoor bird viewing areas allow visitors to watch sandhill cranes, Canada geese and other migratory birds during the fall and winter.
A short walk leads to an agricultural demonstration garden that shows off different farming methods and the foods that were collected and cultivated in New Mexico. A longer walk goes to the LAND/ART exhibition pieces in place since 2009.
Open Space Visitor Center Bird Viewing Across the Farm Fields.
Salvia darcyi provides an upright burst of firecracker red blooms in the hot days at the end of the summer into the fall. It can shine on its own but it looks great mixed behind a perennial border garden with chocolate flower and ice plant or other flowering groundcovers. Plant near a patio and watch the hummingbirds flock to this flower.
Maybe you recently moved into a house that has never been updated — think avocado tile in the bathroom and shag carpet in the sunken living room. You look outside and the theme continues — a sea of gravel and railroad ties. As with interiors, home exterior fashions and landscaping styles change over time. We once thought of gravel as low maintenance and tidy, but now are finding out isn’t the best choice as far as sustainability and community health. Thankfully, through the efforts of local designers, tree experts and Water Authority resources, there is a sea change in understanding the problems that gravel, weed fabric and plastic sheeting can cause in our neighborhoods.
Gravel soaks up heat and radiates it back into the neighborhood, warming up the city. We’ve also found out that gravel and weed fabric don’t discourage weeds, instead their seeds and dust settle on top, sprouting in no time. This leaves few options other than using herbicides, because pulling them can be difficult once they’re rooted in the weed fabric, and using a hoe is difficult in gravel larger than crusher fines. Additionally, tree and plant roots need two things: water and oxygen, neither of which permeate through old weed fabric clogged with silt. Wanting to install some flowering xeric plants near your new front door? That’s going to be a challenge — moving the rock out of the way, cutting the weed fabric and finding a way to install drip irrigation under the existing weed fabric and rock. Perhaps you’d like to invite pollinators to your new yard? Well, our native (and solitary) ground nesting bees won’t find a home in your yard because they can’t burrow through the weed fabric or rock to nest in the soil.
But all hope is not lost. Whether you’re aiming to remove all the gravel, just take out some around existing trees to improve their health or make your outdoor living space cooler and be sure water is soaking though the old weed fabric (or worse, plastic), there is help.
If you have a limited budget and time but want to do some good, use a piece of rebar to poke holes in the weed fabric around your existing plants. This will ensure they can use some of our precious rainfall and allow for oxygen exchange.
Have an existing tree that’s suffocating in heat absorbing rock? Time to grab the wheelbarrow and a shovel. If you’re removing small sections at a time, start with areas with the dripline of the tree. Here is where weed fabric is actually useful: In good condition it can make the gravel removal easier. Lift up the fabric carefully, using it to form the rock into piles that can be scooped up more easily. A square end shovel can be useful here because it’s less likely to rip the fabric underneath as you work. If you need to remove large rock like cobble, I recommend sitting on a protective pad and doing it by hand. Have a 5-gallon bucket or wheelbarrow right next to you to put it in. Some homeowners construct a basic wooden frame out of two-by-fours and wire mesh to make a screen to separate the gravel from dirt. Size it to fit over your wheelbarrow so you can transport the dirt more easily.
Albuquerque’s three convenience centers accept about two wheelbarrows full of rock (or dirt and concrete). Be sure not to take too much because you may be turned away. For larger amounts, you can try the Sandoval County Landfill in Rio Rancho or Southwest Landfill on Albuquerque’s southwest mesa; be sure to call first to confirm they will accept it. Alternatively, many homeowners are looking for gravel for erosion control under downspouts so try placing a FREE add on Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace or Nextdoor. It will most likely get picked up in no time.
Now if your whole yard is full of gravel, you’ll probably need to call in someone who is better equipped, someone with a skid steer (Bobcat). Front yards are easier, but backyards can usually be done with a smaller machine if access is limited.
The obvious question to follow is, what’s next? We recommend wood chips spread to a depth of 4 inches. This mulch (without weed fabric) helps improve the soil over time and allows the tree and plant roots to breath. It also cools the environment a few degrees compared to rock. Several suppliers in the Albuquerque area sell mulch, and they all deliver. They’ll be happy to tell you how much you need if you know the dimensions. Additionally, several places offer free or discounted mulch. Call up large tree removal companies and see if they have any or head to the East Mountain Transfer Station in Tijeras and pick up a cubic yard for $5. There is also a great website called ChipDrop that connects tree service companies with homeowners who want mulch — you may have to wait a while for the stars to align but it’s totally free.
If you’d like to speak with our experts for more tips on removing gravel and having a healthy desert-friendly yard, reach out to us at AskanExpert@abcwua.org
As in most fields, change is slow. Older ways of thinking permeate the landscape industry, but some steps in the right direction (like wood chips instead of gravel) can make a difference over time.
