Rio Grande Botanic Garden

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Client: City of Albuquerque

Located on the edge of an environmentally-sensitive riverside cottonwood forest, the Rio Grande Botanic Garden is New Mexico’s first major botanic garden. Design Workshop’s master plan for the facility weaves the cultural history of New Mexico landscapes together with the area’s broad palette of plant materials. The plan includes ethnobotanical exhibits with examples of historical agricultural techniques drawn from the region, including Anasazi grid gardens, Zuni walled gardens and a Spanish-Moorish garden. Also featured are Sonoran and Chihuahuan desert exhibits and an interpretive display of plant communities sorted by elevation, from the peaks of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the Rio Grande Valley.