Skip navigation.
New Mexico State University

Xeriscape Plant Specimens

Xeriscape™ (a registered trademark of the Denver Water Board of Denver, CO used by the Colorado Waterwise Council) has been promoted as one method to sustain a quality landscape on limited water supplies. However, as many experts have pointed out, xeriscaping, in itself, does not necessarily contribute to water conservation if irrigation strategies are not adjusted to compensate for the lower water requirements of xeric plants.

The xeric plant demonstration garden here at the ASC is somewhat unique from many others in the SW in that it not only serves as an exhibit of plant species that may be suitable for northern New Mexico Landscapes, it provides a rough quantification of the volume of water required to sustain acceptable growth and quality of each species.

About 100 different plant species are exhibited in the garden. The garden is split into four different sections and each section receives a different volume of irrigation each week as provided with a drip system. As with all irrigation study plots at the ASC, irrigation treatments are referenced to a weather-based calculation of ET. Plants in the northeast section receive no irrigation while those in the southeast, northwest, and southwest sections receive weekly irrigations to replace 20%, 40%, and 60% of alfalfa reference ET, respectively. While nearly all plants in the garden will benefit from some supplemental watering, many species have survived without additional irrigation.

You can view plant specimen characteristics and photographs in their recommended irrigation level below.