Santa Fe New Mexican “Pick of the Day” – After Hours Tour with Gary Smith
Wednesday, August 22, 6pm What a surprise! Our After Hours tour with landscape architect, Gary Smith, is the "Pick of the Day" in the local paper, Santa Fe New Mexican! We had over 70 enthusiastic participants who learned everything from [...]
Wall construction continues
Tuesday, August 21 Wear your boots! A little rain this week means there is mud some mornings on the site. The work on building the rock wall of the Orchard Gardens carries on. W. Gary Smith is visiting again to [...]
Dry Garden foundation and flagstone
Tuesday, August 14 The following two pictures show the construction crew digging the foundation for the concrete block wall of the Dry Garden (xeric plant collection). Scroll down to also see the large pieces of flagstone that have arrived and [...]
After hours tour with W. Gary Smith, Landscape Architect
Tuesday, August 7, 6pm Thank you to everyone who came out tonight for the sneak peek of the garden's progress! Isn't it fun to see it grow literally from the ground up!? After hours tour with W. Gary Smith [...]
The Orchard stone wall & the art of hand-chiseled masonry
Tuesday, August 7, morning. New Mexico Stone is the company working on carefully building the Orchard wall using the traditional hand-chiseled masonry on native New Mexican stone. This wall will entirely surround the orchard and is the heart of the [...]
Building the rock wall
August 2, 2012 Enormous moss rock awaits placement in the wall while stone masons chisel and fine tune precise positioning. Photos: Fran Cole
Week 6: Grading complete, Orchard wall rocks on site
July 31, 2012 Today the trenches for the footings for the Orchard Garden retaining wall were dug. Also, the blocky moss rock were delivered in preparation for setting the first rock course for the wall. Two Zuni bowl erosion [...]
Week 5: Earthwork and excavation
July 24, 2012 Soil preparation is an important part of developing a healthy environment for plants to grow in. A main feature of the Orchard Gardens is obviously the area where a variety of fruit trees will be planted near [...]
Santa Fe Garden Club supports capital campaign for Orchard Gardens
July 19, 2012 Today the Santa Fe Garden Club presents a check in the amount of $25,000 to the Santa Fe Botanical Garden toward their capital campaign for the Orchard Gardens. This contribution funds the North Meadow Grove -- a [...]
“Work begins on botanical garden’s outdoor gallery”
July 17, 2012 Check out the local news story on our new garden! Click here to read the full article.
Clearing and grubbing the site
July 3, 2012 All existing vegetation has to be removed in preparation for contouring the site.


