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Making
the Garden: Las Placitas Memorial Garden was designed by
landscape architect Bill Hays, with hardscape construction by Patrick
Finnegan, planting plan by Judith Phillips, and irrigation by Joe Neas. An
ad hoc committee of the church supervised
the work and raised the funds for installation between 1997 and 1999.
ThePaths and Beds: Beginning at the west parking lot a Southwestern
arched garden entry leads into the garden via a paved walkway to the
steps of the old church and to the brick patio outside the entrance to the
fellowship hall. Opposite the patio is a seating area where
large weeping junipers shade three stone benches. Along Paseo de San
Antonio, the low split-rail fence is covered with vivid Austrian copper
roses.
Moving through the garden on a wide pathway of
Santa Fe brown crusher fines, one finds beds containing native, drought-resistant
plantings, most of which were supplied by the late Aspen Evans
of the Santa Ana Nursery. Aspen's memorial plaque can be found near the
old apricot tree in the south bed. Plaques throughout the garden indicate
commemorative gifts of structures, trees, or other plantings. Among
the trees newly planted in the garden are Gambel oak, desert willow, pinon
pine, purple robe robinia, and Oklahoma redbud. Shrubs are mountain
mahogany, fernbush, Apache plume, and sage, among others. Decorative plants
include various penstemons, a variety of grasses, red yucca, pussy
toes, prostrate sumac, and vinca.
 Key Features: In the garden is a circular Worship Area,
with stone benches, a pulpit, and a pond. Nearby is the Meditation area
overlooking the garden. Behind the pond is a granite
slab bearing the inscription "For the Lamb in the midst of the
throne shall be their shepherd and will guide them to the springs of
living water and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes" (Rev.
7:17). The Columbarium is located to the left of
the pond with twelve niches for the interment of ashes. To the north of the worship area is the
Memorial Walk. Mounted on the north building wall is a Founders Plaque
commemorating the founding families of Las Placitas, and on the
east wall, a Memory Board where small plaques with the names
of loved ones can be installed. The bed opposite the memory board, may be
used for the scattering of ashes. Please see the Memorialization section
for more details.
Irrigation:
An objective of the garden has been to make it a demonstration of low
water use, an important consideration in New Mexico. Accordingly, drip
irrigation is used throughout. Irrigation water is pumped into the drip
system from a 1500-gallon holding tank, fed by the acequia during
the church's "water day." Many now consider this approach to be
a model solution for home gardeners in Placitas, who are barred from using
domestic water for irrigation. The result for the Memorial Garden is that
this rather large area can be irrigated with a tiny fraction of the volume
allocated by the church's water rights.
Maintenance and Improvement: The garden is tended by volunteers,
the Garden Stewards, who gather for
a couple of hours on four Saturday mornings during the growing season
for planting, pruning, weeding, raking, emitter-checking, and
pond-cleaning. Structural, electrical, or irrigation repairs and improvements
are handled by outside contractors. |
