Gardeners recognize one another by the telltale packets of heirloom seed packets protruding from their breast pockets — or perhaps it's the way they stop mid-stride to scrutinize some hedge or flower.

Eavesdroppers might presume they have their own language — a "gardenerspeak" — peppered with Latin genus names and a vernacular that includes shade tolerance or naturalization, or remarks such as, "that garden has good bones."

On the first two Sundays in June, everyone will have the opportunity to enter the gardener's world and experience some of the loveliest gardens in Santa Fe at the 12th Annual Santa Fe Botanical Garden Garden Tour.

The mission of the SFBG is to "celebrate, cultivate and conserve" the rich botanical heritage and biodiversity of the region through education programs and service to the community. The garden tour is a means of educating people about the vast potential in using native New Mexico plants, stressing wise-water usage, as well as offering a look at some state-of-the-art landscape design. The annual event is SFBG's biggest fundraiser, benefiting such treasures as the Leonora Curtin Wetland Preserve and The Ortiz Mountains Educational Preserve.

The 18-year-old organization also has been working toward the development of a public garden in Santa Fe, and that dream will — hopefully within the next year — become a reality on
10 acres on Museum Hill.

A 'woodlands' visit

On June 1, the SFBG tour will showcase four distinctive gardens in Tesuque. Tour participants will be treated to a stroll around a property that was formerly a fruit orchard. The owner, a Dutch transplant himself, has established over 800 bulbs — 20 varietals planted by Donna Bone of Design With Nature with staggered blooming dates in mind. He lovingly cares for the 16 century-old apple trees on the grounds, is handy with a cider press, and is quite proud of a cider he has perfected over the years.

The blossoms of any orchard tree are a delight in the spring garden, and, on a recent visit, the flowers were humming with bees. A wonderful old peach tree was propped up with craggy, druid-looking crutches in anticipation of its laden boughs. The peach is always the first to blossom, the owner said, and this year the flowers were peeking over a dusting of snow (which they happily survived).

The property includes two old acequias, the Chiquita and Madre. When it is his turn once a week for the allotted water that originates in the mountains, the owner opens the various partitions and allows the banks of the shallow ditches to overflow. The acequias, winding through the orchard trees and the wispy honey locust, past the exuberant and varied rose bushes and the merry array of perennials, give the place the feel of a tranquil, established country manor.

An inviting plank swing swayed slightly in the breeze, its ropes tethered high above to the sturdy branch of a big shade tree. This part of the garden is called the "woodlands," and indeed, the lovely carpet of fescue begged for a picnic.


Another Tesuque property seems to be perched on top of the world.

A sort of trompe l'oeil doorway opens from the first courtyard — which was filled with bright, loose-petaled Canary Bird roses and youthful sumacs — not into a house, but rather, down into another pleasing courtyard with an outdoor fireplace, shimmering aspen and an Autumn Brilliance serviceberry that create four pillars around a soothing fountain. A third treat is the staircase that climbs from this courtyard to a widow's walk offering a spectacular view of the Sangre de Cristo mountains and Redondo Peak, as well as a bird's-eye view of the garden below.

This property is a magnificent example of xeriscaping. Landscaper Donna Bone had listened to the particular surroundings, determined to neither wall-in the gardens nor wall-out the surrounding natives of the high desert. Hence, there is a seamless interchange between the carefully chosen Rocky Mountain penstemon, guara, buddleias, New Mexican olive and showy native grasses, and the vast vistas and naturally occurring piñon and other desert locals who have long resided just beyond the boundaries of the property.

A third stop in Tesuque features meandering grounds shaded by stately old cottonwoods and elms. Fragrant white lilac bushes and apple trees surround a small pond and hug the edges of this appealing place. A central garden full of peonies, roses, iris and grasses form a circle of color and spring delight.

The grounds of the fourth Tesuque stop reflect affection for English-style gardens. An acequia-fed, stone-rimmed pond, its surface tickled by the tendrils of the massive weeping willows on its banks, provides a feast of greenness and soothes the spirit. A pathway winds through the estate, introducing the garden aficionado to different light, settings and breathtaking plantings at every turn.


The June 8 tour stays closer to downtown Santa Fe, visiting three properties on or near Garcia Street.

The itinerary includes a house that dates back to 1870, with an herb and raised vegetable garden, as well as hydrangeas, Japanese maples and peonies. Another home is more than
125 years old, with multi-level flagstone terraces and a 17th-century watering trough from Spain that now serves as a raised pool, all accented by an enormous Sally Holmes climbing rose. The third property, dating from the 1920s, has a garden designed by Jacques Cartier, with giant Siberian elms and the original orchard, as well as the playful touch of a kiva out in the back.

The last three gardens await close by, in a lovely, historic compound rich in history and filled with floral stories.

Visitors can explore the garden of a charming and welcoming New Orleans transplant, who has done a fine job with her grounds — despite the fact that she quickly discovered that she couldn't grow the beloved camellias and azaleas of her Southern childhood. Desert climes, even high desert such as Santa Fe, definitely provide a challenge for the gardener. But one would never know it looking at her place, a marvel of highs and lows, or — as they say in gardenerspeak — "understory," carpets of thyme and sedum spongy and green between the rounded rocks, the swan-song remnants of daffodils and tulips making way for the entrance of peonies and columbine and meltingly romantic bleeding heart.

Small trees, shaped to an almost bonsai-esque perfection, grow at strategic intervals between the flowers, the most arresting being a twisted, tangled-looking dazzler called Corylus Contorta, or Harry Lauder's Walking Stick. The compound was a little oasis in the past, the owner said, and after some years of neglect, it appears the latest inhabitants are strongly on the path toward redemption.

Across the way stands the house that won the 2002 award for Best Historic Preservation from the Hacienda Parade of Homes, a fascinating entry into the world of America's fourth female aviator, Katherine Stinson Otero, who built this house and several others in the compound in the 1920s and '30s. The home's current owners have made certain that each iron gate and lantern and viga and fountain has been lovingly restored.

Working with landscaper Maria King of Manzari Gardens, the owner requested that she be able to see the flowers in the garden from her dining room window, so a beautiful raised area with roses and pampas grasses and Siberian iris was created. A walk around the house takes the viewer on a varied path, past winsome sculptures, lavender spilling over rocks, a moon garden replete with pale hosta lilies, white hydrangea and Jupiter's beard — a courtyard that has kept its integrity over the years, right down to the old bricks made by inmates of the penitentiary that once stood on Pen Road. The bricks are finished with diverse glazes and some were even signed by their makers.

King believes that every garden should have a private spot, a "secret garden" within the larger space that can serve as a sanctuary. Here, this area features a small table just big enough for a cup of tea and a good book, and two chairs set up in the shade of flowering plum and a soft carpet of buffalo grass. A burbling fountain trumps any road noise that might invade this special spot.

Another property features a courtyard that is a fine example of hardscaping, the use of rocks to set off surrounding greenery. And since this property, too, has been blessed with an acequia as a long-standing source for water, there are plenty of stately, mature trees providing shade for the clumps of lambs' ear and pine leaf penstemon that grow along an impressive path. In her quest for a "parklike setting," landscaper Julia Berman created a long stone path with rocks that fit flush and tightly together, like jigsaw puzzle pieces. This leads to a fountain where another stone path intersects, all leading to an inviting ramada, only dappled sunlight making it through the old trees and its ceiling of sturdy wooden beams.


The beauty of the Santa Fe Botanical Society tour is that it is self-guided. Brochures and maps are given with ticket purchase and you decide how long you want to stay at each place and the order in which to proceed. (Each day's tour should take about three hours.) Parking will be available near the featured gardens, but organizers suggest you wear comfortable shoes and bring water.