Santa Fe Steeze: Late Summer Garden in Santa Fe

Plumbago Bloom

Gardening is quite the steezy hobby in Santa Fe—and I certainly enjoy it myself. I started gardening at a very early age, although not by choice.

My mother's side of the family is Cherokee. She grew up in Northeastern Oklahoma on what was basically a subsistence farm. Because of the prejudice of the time, her father often had to travel and be away from home for what work he could find. My uncles were all sent off to the government sanctioned institutional genocide called "Indian boarding school" leaving my mother and grandmother to tend to the garden—a laborious chore that is still set deep in my mother's memory. My mother vowed to leave poverty behind her. She graduated from college and eventually became an international cost account analyst for a large multi-national corporation. Go mom!

My father's side of the family is French and German. They made money owning speakeasies during prohibition and eventually liquor distribution—a fun time for all. My father grew up watching the gardeners and landscapers tend to his family's properties—a world of maids, butlers, drivers and nannies.

So when my parents got married and built a home on a nice plot of land, for some reason my father decided that it would be a fun novelty to start a garden "out back". Needless to say, my mother wanted nothing to do with it.

Over the years my father's obsession with the garden grew into a 3/4 acre mass of edible vegetation. The sheer volume of fruit and vegetables produced by his garden was staggering.

So you may be wondering how an individual can tend to such a large horticultural undertaking. You would think that with my father's background he would hire some help. No, my father found a much more economical solution—have children.

My brother and I were forced to work in that damn garden all summer, every summer. Our reward...tomatoes, and the knowledge that good children obey their father.

In retrospect, I learned more than just how to be subservient (and how to identify the subtle warning signs of heat stroke). I actually learned how to grow things and not only appreciate, but enjoy being outdoors working in the garden.

I am certain that part of the popularity of gardening in Santa Fe is that we have all four seasons, each one is beautiful and all of them are relatively mild.

But be forewarned, gardening in Santa Fe can be difficult. First and foremost, we live in a desert and get very little precipitation—most of which is either the summer monsoons or snow in the winter. Secondly, Santa Fe is basically on a mountain therefore our soil is generally poor, consisting of either extreme sand or heavy clay (mine happens to be clay).

I will write more about gardening in the desert southwest in future posts. In the meantime, here are a few photos of my front courtyard on the last official day of summer 2009.

View From Portal

Santa Fe's vernacular architecture is instrumental in providing the sense of place that in part makes Santa Fe steezy, although some of the terms may not be familiar. This is part of the view of my front courtyard from the portàl. A portàl is a decorative covered structure usually at an entrance to a building. In other words, this is the view from my front porch.

Purple Leaf Sage

The top of this photo shows purple leaf sage which is somewhat evergreen (or everpurple) here. In front the the sage is an orange mum and hardy plumbago. The grassy looking thing is actually part of a Scotch broom.

Silver Mound Artemesia

This is a snapshot of silver mound artemesia. Generally if a plant has gray foliage, it is at least drought-tolerant if not xeric.

Hardy Hibiscus (Rose of Sharon)

Even this late in the season the hibiscus is still blooming. I planted this to remind me of my grandmothers home. Rose of Sharon grew there like weeds—mine not so much.

Bishops Weed

Bishops Weed can be a little invasive, but it is nice in dark corners of the courtyard. This photo also shows iris foliage, a crimson barberry and a gro-low sumac.

Plumbago and Lavender

Plumbago is one of my favorite ground covers. It has nice green foliage, brilliant blue flowers and as you can see turns red, yellow and orange in late summer through fall.

Path by the Pond

This is the gravel path that curves from the front gate of the courtyard to the pond. The tall plant beginning to bloom yellow is Chamisa. Chamisa is one of the signature plants of northern New Mexico. It grows wild in nearly all open spaces here. Chamisa blooms in the late summer and is a harbinger of fall.

Chamisa Bloom (detail)

This is a detail of the Chamisa beginning to bloom.

Red Twig Dogwood

Another way that my garden tells me that summer is over is that the branches of the red twig dogwood begin to turn. You can see the red branches in the center of the photo.

Good Lord, this photo makes it look as if I am living in an overgrown "grey gardens" with sixteen cats and my elderly bed-ridden mother...A picture paints a thousand words. Please send pâté.