Meet at 8:15am in the rear parking lot of the San Francisco de Asis church in Ranchos to car pool. Our first stop will be at a private home off Old Santa Fe Trail to tour an award-winning rock garden replete with many species of plants. We will then drive to Museum Hill, have lunch in the Museum Café, then enjoy a docent-led tour of the Santa Fe Botanical Garden. 

Cost: $8/person for tour. 

Reservations required by May 26. Contact Jan Martenson to reserve your space: jsm449@mac.com, 751-0511.

The first stop is a large rock garden – of some several thousand species, mostly alpine – surrounds a slender 2,000 sqft house set on a steep spectacular site six miles south of the Santa Fe Plaza. A mason-built walled terrace surrounds much of the house, making for a garden of crevice plants shown at waist or shoulder height. There are also two staircase gardens rising out of the parking lot joined by several long terraces of large perennials and grasses done in a style popularized by Piet Ourdolf. The soil is decomposed granite modified when possible.

Behind the studios is a walkway, past enormous up-thrusting rocks, to a hot tub platform with hundred-mile views. It is a site that can accommodate quite a variety of plants, making for a garden of continual astonishment and surprise.

“It’s a privilege to be able to show the garden and introduce gardeners to what a real rock garden can offer.“ - Robin Magowan, owner