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I live partway down a valley in the high country at 7200 feet elevation in the central New Mexico mountains at the southern tip of the Rockies. Robin (DH) and I have 5 acres that is mostly wooded and some meadow. The trees are mostly Ponderosa Pine, Pinon Pine, Oak & Juniper. There are shrubs or small trees such as Buffalo Berry, Mountain Mahogany, Currant, Rhus trilobata (Lemonade bush), Sand Cherry, Nanking Cherry, Wild Plums (Prunus americana), Big Sage, Apache Plume and a few others.

The whole valley was once Ponderosa Pine and was logged at the turn of the century (1900) and much has reforested Juniper, Pinon, Ponderosa and Oak. The Pinons are on the way out and Ponderosas are increasing. We are doing a hedgerow around the meadow because it is next to the road on the eastern part of the property and is the lowest part of the land.

We have some native flowers/forbs in the meadow and the grass is primarily Blue Gramma (Bouteloua gracilis) which is native to this area. The flowers/forbs include Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja linariifolia), Rocky Mountain Penstemon (Penstemon strictus), Purple Geranium, (Geranium caespitosum), Heal All (Prunella vulgaris), Scarlet Penstemon (Penstemon barbatus), Blue Flax (Linum lewisii), Gaura (Gaura coccinea), Santa Fe Phlox (Phlox nana), Red and Yellow Deervetch (Lotus wrightii), Indian Blanket (Gaillardia pulchella), Yellow Salsify (Tragopogon dubius), Puccoon (Lithospermum multiflorum), Scarlet Gilia (Ipomopsis aggregata), Globemallow (Sphaeralcea hastulata and S coccinea), Showy Navajo Tea (Thelesperma ambiguum), Purple Aster (Aster bigelovii), White Aster (A. falcatus var. commutatus), Western Wallflower (Erysium asperum), Perky Sue (Hymenoxys argentea), Desert Four O'clock (Mirabilis multiflora), White Locoweed (Oxytropis sericea), Wandbloom Penstemon (P. virgatus), Groundsel (Senecio longilobus), Showy Golden Eye (Viguiera multiflora), Flea Bane (Erigeron divergens?), Peppergrass (Lepidium lasiocarpum), Tahoka Daisy (Aster tanacetifolia), Mexican Hat (Ratibida columnaris), Spotted Beebalm (Monarda punctata), White Yarrow (Achillea miillefolium), Milkvetch (Astragalus sp.), Spike Verbena (Verbena mcdougalii),Silver Lupine (Lupinus argenteus), Lambert's Locoweed (Oxytropis lambertii), Purple Prairie Clover (Petalostemum purpureum) and others I will add to the member page as I remember them

I have way too much False Tarragon or Ironweed (Artemisia dracunculoides) Snakeweed (Gutierrezia microcephala), and Hairy Golden Aster (Chrysopsis villosa) and this may be a result of over grazing (the Snakeweed population most certainly is) and I am working on thinning these to a more normal level.

We have fruit trees, herb garden and a small vegetable garden. We grow organic and use Permaculture principles for land management.

One of my favorite websites is Gothic Gardening - http://www.gothic.net/~malice/

If I have seeds to trade they will be listed on the trade page. Most of the wildflowers are allowed to self seed and I rarely collect seed from them.

I live in: United States

My zone is: z5ManzanitaMtNM

My favorite forum 1 is Gardening with Stone.

My favorite forum 2 is Farm Life.

First registered on August 06,2001.