 The following is a production of New Mexico State University. Located in the heart of New Mexico's Rio Grande Valley, is one of my favorite public parks in all the southwest, the Rio Grande Botanic Garden. Just minutes from downtown Albuquerque, this garden sports a superb collection of drought tolerant plants, most are suited for the southern deserts of our region, specifically the Chihuahuan and Sonoran deserts. But drought tolerant does not necessarily mean brown and drab. Desert collections gardener Catherine Annetta describes plants adapted for the zero-escape. One of the very colorful plants people can consider is the Budleia. Budleia. It's a nice low-water shrub. It comes in various forms. You have your upright variety, dark purples, two lavenders. And then you've got this one that we see here, this arching, flowering all along the stem, very beautiful, fragrant. Yes. And you've got red buds, of all things, a redbud tree. Redbud. And one of the nicest is probably the Texas redbud, very waxy, thick leaf with a cerise-colored bloom that will just knock you out in the springtime. And it likes the temperatures and the conditions. It grows well. It grows very well here. And then all mesquite. Mesquite. Very nice. We have a number of different varieties. And there are some that are more weedy, some which are actually a nice ornamental tree. The screw bean mesquite is very nice. And nice flowers, nice fragrant flowers. Nice fragrance. And the Mexican elder? The Mexican elder. Tends to scorch out in the summer. But it starts greening up early and flowers early. And so it fits into the landscape very well. It does. And you can trim it so that it has a gnarly appearance or you can let it just stay in its natural form. It fits in the landscape extremely well. It makes a small shade tree. Shades, patio areas. It's a good plant to have. In arid climates, cacti like this cleric cup cactus make good additions to the landscape. Very beautiful. You have all your apuntias. The prickly pears. The prickly pears. And one nice thing is you can take the tunas and make jellies and jams from them. And we even have the cholla cactus. It's a close relative of prickly pear. In landscape situations, it can take up a lot of space. But it's easy to grow without irrigation. And so there's a wide variety of cacti we can use. They're not the only thing you can grow in a zero-scape. Oh, no. But they certainly do have a place there. Yuccas, which are succulents, not cacti, can be an accent to the landscape. Palm yuccas do better in warmer regions of the southwest. Yucca Tomsoniana, with its narrower leaves, does a little better in cooler areas. The agave, which is similar to the yucca, is also easy to grow with little irrigation in southwestern landscapes. Although it's called a sentry plant, it can mature and flower in 20 years or less, depending on the species. It's a nice plant. It's a sharp point. You don't want to put it next to a sidewalk. But it's a good plant and looks like it belongs in the desert. Yes. Okay, and you've also got okatilla. That's another one that'll bite you. That is. Long slender stalk with lots of spines on it. And the interesting thing is it is leafless until after it rains. Then it leaves out? And it blooms at the top. Bright orange blooms. It looks like a dead stick with beautiful blooms. It does. Cacti and succulents can add interest to a zero-escape.