On a tour of secret gardens in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Kathryn and I peek behind adobe walls for tantalizing glimpses of hidden treasures. Organized by the Santa Fe Botanical Gardens, the tour provides access to several small urban gardens not normally visible to passersby.

A beautifully sophisticated yet rustic fence made of reddish twigs defines the boundary between the garden and the natural environment beyond. This very low maintenance garden, features a beautiful mix of native and exotic plant materials all well adapted to local climate conditions and low rainfall. This is a xeriscape garden. Many people think that a xeriscape consists of a cactus and a couple of rocks surrounded by gravel. Obviously, a xeriscape can be much more than that.

In the beautifully designed private garden of the Richardson home an aesthetically appealing yet functional patio provides a transition between home and garden. This garden places all higher maintenance plantings needing supplemental water within the privacy of the backyard. Kathryn and I designed this garden several years ago.

A Montmorency pie cherry tree and a dwarf peach tree provide fresh fruit in season. The fruit trees are adjacent to the patio in the photo above.

The Richardson home also features a small section of the backyard garden devoted to vegetables such as tomatoes and chili peppers. Blue Penstemon strictus, and yellow Aquilegia chrysantha (yellow columbine) are native wildflowers mixed in with the vegetables.

In the front yard of the Richardson home we see a water conserving xeriscape of native wildflowers, shrubs, and succulents in dramatic contrast to the lush greenness of the private backyard. This portion of the garden faces south and is exposed to the intense heat of full desert sun. The function of the dry streambed is to direct and control excess rainwater from summer thunderstorms.

One aspect of gardening in the high desert of New Mexico is that most of the rainfall occurs during the “monsoon season” in the summertime. Snow in winter also provides some water, but most of the water arrives in torrential summer thunderstorms. All the precipitation (snow, hail, rain) that runs off the roof of the house is captured by downspouts and fed into cisterns which store the water in this garden. An extensive drip-trickle system distributes the water to organically grown vegetables.

Another water management technique is the sunken garden shown here. The rainwater and snowmelt which runs off of impervious surfaces such as the roof of the house is directed into these pit gardens which are sunken well below grade. A Russian olive tree rooted in the bottom of the pit shades the garden and provides a moist, shady microclimate for the plants surrounding it.

This adobe wall and dramatic blue gate provide access to a small urban garden featuring permeable paving using flagstones and creeping thyme. Permeable paving allows precipitation to percolate into groundwater without being shunted off into municipal stormwater drainage systems.

In Arizona the desert wildflowers are particularly abundant this year because of the generous rainfall last winter. We’re driving through this enchanting landscape on our way to bookstore appearances at Changing Hands in Tempe and at the University of Arizona in Tucson, but we stop to watch a storm sweep across the desert along the way. When it rains in the dessert, aromas blossom, as though the arid ground was biding its time, eager to release it’s pent up beauty.

Spectacular blossoms of pink penstemon (Penstemon parryi) and yellow baileya (Baileya multiradiata) erupt among the yuccas and mesquites. The beautiful colors of the desert wildflowers amaze and strike us dumb. Their profusion and their diversity inspire us to take way too many pictures.

Whole hillsides are carpeted with the lovely little Mexican gold poppy (Eschscholzia mexicana) a close cousin of the California poppy (Eschscholzia californica). Mexican gold poppy is often considered to be a subspecies of the California poppy. It is an altogether delightful little plant that blooms in extraordinary abundance once a decade or so.

When we arrive at our destination we soak up the warmth and the sunshine. How delightful to be here after winter in the chilly Pacific Northwest. Palm trees sway in the breeze and the mountains glow in the late afternoon sun.

We park in front of Changing Hands in Tempe and meet with the biggest crowd we’ve had on our whole book tour. Amazing. Several people bring in sick plants to be diagnosed and we all have a great time detecting plant solutions for an evening.

In Tucson we give a PowerPoint presentation at the University of Arizona Bookstore. One woman brings in photographs of a Dracaena in trouble. We use the book together to diagnose the problem. The leaves are turning brown and the plant sheds its oldest leaves. This is a natural process, as all leaves have a finite life span.

 It’s really wonderful to get to see how many people find that using the flow charts in our book is much like a game, or like being a detective. It allows people to be forensic scientists as they work through the decision tree to arrive at an accurate diagnosis. Who knew it would be so much fun?

 If you have a favorite spot we should not miss, please let us know. We invite you to share your stories of the greenworld, and welcome you to join us at one of our stops on the road. See our events page for all the details (www.ddandkw.com/events)

We’re at the Los Angeles Arboretum in Arcadia, California, giving a presentation to the “Compulsive Gardeners”, a wonderful group of knowledgeable and dedicated gardeners whose enthusiasm is boundless.

 It’s interesting to be back. I (David) used to work here, in the Research Division, just after finishing my PhD. It was my first professional position and I loved all the exotic plants from Mediterranean climates around the world. And, of course, the peacocks!

Back then there were a lot of peacocks on the Arboretum grounds, and they’re still here after all these years. The peacocks and peahens are wild animals that live at the Arboretum and forage through the neighborhood. They’re big birds and their raucous calls are very loud. It’s amazing to see them fly up into the trees to lounge about and rest. The flamboyant tail plumage of the male birds is so huge it seems impossible that they can fly. And yet they do!

The grounds surrounding my old Research Division sport a brand new Permaculture demonstration garden featuring berms and swales. Swales are ditches dug on the contour to capture rainwater. The soil removed from the swales is piled up in mounds (or berms) adjacent to the swales and planted with a variety of fruit trees (citrus, banana), vegetables, and herbs. All the plants get watered when the swales fill up with water every time it rains. A drip trickle system waters the garden in between rains.

The Arboretum grounds feature exotic ornamentals grouped by region of origin. Many plants of Madagascar are spiny, and some look a lot like the boojum from Baja. Like Baja, Madagascar has extensive desert regions with plants adapted to extremely arid environments.

Australia is another part of the world with an extensive Mediterranean climate. Plants from these climates (summer-dry, winter mild and moist) do well on the pacific coast of North America where we normally receive no rainfall during the summer months. The Pacific Northwest is too cold in winter for many tropicals but they flourish in California.

South Africa also has a Mediterranean climate and its flora features many beautiful flowers. Ever notice that the five major areas of Mediterranean climate are also the premium wine growing areas of the world? The med, of course, and California, but also Australia, South Africa, and Chile. Beautiful flowers and great wines. What could be better?

 If you have a favorite spot we should not miss, please let us know. We invite you to share your stories of the greenworld, and welcome you to join us at one of our stops on the road. See our events page for all the details (www.ddandkw.com/events)