Santa Fe Botanical Garden at Museum Hill
Linda Milbourn, Executive Director

Planning for the new Santa Fe Botanical Garden at Museum Hill advanced a step further with the completion of the Preliminary Schematic Design Plan by landscape architect W. Gary Smith. This plan shows the placement of all of the proposed garden elements: walkways and paths, courtyards and plazas, terraces and promontories, garden rooms and planting beds, an outdoor classroom and a bridge.

Phase One of the plan, the area closest to Camino Lejo and the museums, is defined by its topography. The Arroyo de los Pinos runs through its center. Our Design Plan takes advantage of this definition by creating two distinct garden styles, the Courtyard Gardens featuring a sequence of garden rooms reflecting different themes and lush displays of horticultural artistry, and the Naturalistic Garden offering serpentine paths through swaths of grasses, trees and shrubs. The Entrance Gardens provide the opportunity for another garden experience.

The natural landscape has provided a special design opportunity - the addition of a pedestrian bridge to link the Courtyard Gardens and the Naturalist Gardens. The bridge will be positioned to offer views of the historic gabion dam built in the 1930s and designated as a protected cultural resource. Gary Smith is hoping to identify an “orphaned bridge,” a pedestrian bridge that has been removed from service in its former location and that is available to be relocated and redeployed as a functional garden element.

Restoration efforts to sections of degraded arroyo are complete and newly planted shrubs and grasses are establishing themselves, helped along by warm, moist late summer weather. Gary Smith plans to begin design development work in the fall.

For more information or to make an appointment to take a walking tour of the new garden, please call the SFBG Office (505-471-9103) or email.

The Santa Fe Botanical Garden celebrates, cultivates and conserves the rich botanical heritage and biodiversity of our region. In partnership with nature, we demonstrate our commitment through education, community service and the sustainable management of our nature preserves and future public garden.

Santa Fe Botanical Garden • Office: 1213 Mercantile, Suite A, Santa Fe 87507•
Phone 505.471.9103
Mailing Address: Post Office Box 23343, Santa Fe NM 87502-3343