Albuquerque, as you know, is a desert. It is an area that doesn't get more than 9 inches of rain a year. Part of the reason for that is because of the Sandia and Manzano Mountain Ranges to the East of the city. The Sandias is North of I40 and The Manzanos is South of I40. The mountains prevent many clouds from flowing this way from the East. What happens is that the rain clouds get 'pushed back' due to the winds and end up hovering over the East Mountain area. They get much more snow and rain than Albuquerque does. As a matter of fact, when you take a drive through the canyon - the low area between the mountains - and get to the other side of the mountains, it looks a great deal like Pennsylvania. There are many many evergreen trees like Pine Trees. There is actually a national forest on the other side of the mountains. As the land 'settles' out it turns into flat land area that are great for farms and ranches.
Isn't that amazing?! On one side of the mountains is a desert and the other side there are ranches and farms. It really is an amazing area out here.
Now, I mentioned the Aquifer the other day and I certainly want to make certain I let you know what that is. In NJ, you have lakes, rivers, ponds and even the ocean. Here in NM we have a couple of big lakes, the Rio Grande River (which isn't as big as it used to be) and some streams but we do not have an ocean. What we do have is an Aquifer.
An Aquifer is an underground lake. It is an area in the ground that has permeable rock that lets the rain fall go into and holds it there. In Albuquerque, we tap into that water source for our drinking water and for all our water needs. Our Aquifer was very large at one time and the space is still there, it is just that we have so many people living in Albuquerque that we use the water faster than it is being replaced. So slowly, it is holding less and less water.
Because of that, many people Xeroscape (pronounces 'zero scape') their yards. Growing grass in Albuquerque is really tough, the soil isn't as nutrient rich and is more like sand. The sun shines very brightly most of the time and to grow grass here you really have to work at it every day. You need to water often, because the rain doesn't come often enough to do it for you like in the Garden State.
Xeroscape is using drought tolerant plants, rocks, crush (which is crushed rocks) and sand to decorate a yard. It makes it very easy to care for, but not so fun to lie in and watch clouds. The plants are usually cacti and other succulents. Some are really pretty examples. Ms. Dee loves Xeroscaping. She thinks you'll be surprised at how much natural color the Southwest has....
As you will see, there are many natural plants in the area that are colorful. The big purple plant is actually a grass.
Because of living in an area where there are hills, many people decorate their yards and gardens in layers like this one.
This is an example of just 'natural growth' and probably wasn't planned out. Can you see the Adobe house in the background?
This is a simple 'rock' garden type of Xeroscape. Mostly rocks with a few plants.
Another natural growth look.
This one is fun! They even put in a walkway and bench!!
Something else I didn't tell you. They have cement walls to divide up their property. In NJ usually a fence is of metal, but here, they actually have cement walls about 4 feet tall on everyone's property. Can you guess why?.....................
Answer: To hold the soil in place! Because they are often on hills, they separate out the parcels of land and build cement walls to keep everything where it is! LOL.
BTW - all of these photos were taken off the web - couldn't get much with the snowy weather today!
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