White Rock Demonstration Garden Officially Opens!

The Los Alamos County Green Team snips the ribbon Wednesday morning to officially open the demonstration garden in White Rock. From left, Alex Archuleta, Jason Wardlow Herrera, Robert Martinez, Bryan Aragon, Jonathan Henley, Ben Gonzales, Dan Erickson, Jeff Humpton, Matthew Allen, Lee Cole, Angelica Gurule and Kirsten Bell. Photo by Vint Miller/LAC

The demonstration garden officially opened Wednesday in White Rock. Photo by Kirsten Laskey/ladailypost.com
 

By KIRSTEN LASKEY
Los Alamos Daily Post
 

Last summer, the Los Alamos County Green Team was commissioned to create a waterwise demonstration garden in White Rock and Wednesday morning they unveiled the final product to the community.

 

The garden, which is in between the Bandelier Shuttle and the White Rock Visitor Center, showcases one of the San Ildefonso pottery replicas as well as a variety of native and drought resistant plants.

 

“We’re really proud of this garden,” Environmental Services Division Manager Angelica Gurule told the crowd at the ribbon cutting. “We wanted to highlight the pottery that was here.”

 

She explained that the Green Team hand planted all the rocks and joked they had been weeding the garden since the fall.

 

Wednesday was a good day to host the ribbon cutting since it came on the heels of Earth Day, Gurule said. She explained that the garden was created “for visitors and the community to enjoy.” However, it also is an example of what people can plant in their own gardens. Gurule said hopefully people will check out the signs posted in the demonstration garden that identify the different plants and will put them in their own yards.

 

“The selected plants are drought tolerant, native, can withstand a semi-arid high desert environment,” Gurule said. “To minimize water usage, the majority of the surface area is covered in New Mexico Travertine – Comanche rock and carved with a passive river bed feature and crusher fines walking path.”

 

This was a County-wide effort to help beautify White Rock and educate residents on ways to lower water usage in their yards.

 

“This is a great collaborative effort,” said Community Services Department Management Analyst Kirsten Bell.

 

The Green Team consists of 10 employees from multiple County departments. They focus on utilizing environmentally-friendly practices whether it is recycling or purchasing more “environmentally preferable” products, Gurule said.

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