Taos gardening club returns with spring
Spring is in the air and gardeners are watching and waiting for the early spring flowers to begin to peek through the soil. We are certainly hungry for spring colors to grace Taos gardens again. It is with anticipation that we watch for recent snow and rain showers to bring a great show of bright pink and white crabapple blossoms and the scent of lilacs around town.
Taos presents its own unique challenges to gardeners and Los Jardineros, the garden club of Taos, which is returning with the new season. The club is a place where gardening enthusiasts may talk with other local gardeners about their gardening challenges and successes. With so many microclimates, it is difficult to know when, where and what to plant with success.
At one meeting, I learned a wonderful tip: A member told me that daffodils are an indicator plant for all micro-climates in the area. She said when the daffodil leaves are as tall as bunny ears, you can successfully plant flowers such as sweet peas, violets, pansies and wild flowers, as well as hardy vegetables such as peas, kale, cabbage and Swiss chard.
After a two-year sabbatical brought on by the pandemic, Los Jardineros is planning to re-open with in-person meetings once again. A nonprofit organization since 1949, Los Jardineros hosts monthly meetings with speaker presentations on gardening and land use in the Taos area, funds local grants for public beautification and offers local garden tours, where members may view other gardeners’ landscaping wonders.
The first meeting, open to the public, will be May 26 at 10 a.m. at the Taos Tennis Club. Our speaker will be George Miller, past-president of the Native Plant Society of NM–Albuquerque Chapter and frequent contributor to New Mexico Magazine. A graduate of University of Texas, Miller has a master’s degree in botany and zoology and pursued a career as an environmental journalist. He has written 25 nature guide books, including ”Quick Guide to Wildflowers of Arizona & New Mexico,” ”Landscaping with Native Plants of the Southwest” and his latest, “Native Plant Gardening for Birds, Bees & Butterflies: Southwest.” Miller will present a program based on his recently-published book, “Creating Pollinator Friendly Landscapes.”
With the decades-long drought in the Southwest, urban flower gardens are suffering. So are the birds, bees and butterflies that have come to depend upon them. The program gives the ABCs of establishing a backyard oasis that sustains wildlife with food, water, shelter and nesting areas. With slides and stories, Miller will explain the use of droughttolerant, low-maintenance native plants to create a yard that is not just a showplace of three-season color, but also a life-sustaining habitat for the birds and insect pollinators displaced by our houses, businesses and roads. His website, WildflowersNM.com, has descriptions, photos and identification tips for over 650 New Mexico and Southwest wildflowers.