PLANT CONSERVATION
ABOUT PLANT DIVERSITY AND NATIVE PLANTS
ABOUT PLANT SELECTION
Plant selection is by hardiness zone. Hardiness zones have to do with how much rain you get and when it freezes. That is code for which plants will survive here. El Paso is in that yellow band called Zone 8.
ABOUT XERISCAPING
We've done a good job in El Paso of training people when they think of native plants to think of xeriscaping. Unfortunately, when they think of xeriscaping they tend to think of a barren looking landscape covered with rocks.
Plant selection is by hardiness zone. El Paso is in Hardiness Zone 8b based on our average lowest annual temperature of 10 F to 20 F and average rainfall of 9" a year.
There are more than 2000 flowering, fragrant, drought tolerant, native and adaptive plants and cultivars that will grow in our hardiness zone. So the next time you are looking at a beautiful plant in a big box nursery, it's worth a quick check. It may or may not be suited to zone 8. Your thumb will green up quite a bit with the right plant selection.
Over 65% of El Paso Children's Garden demonstrates “natural” plantings. We want to show you the beauty of small, lush, predominantly native, microclimates that can even be achieved at home.
