 The following is a production of New Mexico State University. Located in the heart of New Mexico's Real Grand Valley, is one of my favorite public parks in all the southwest, the Real Grand 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. That's what Desert Collections Gardener Catherine Annette approved to me on a colorful tour of the park's flowers. We started with the hardy verbena species. Verbena, a wide variety of colors. You have your pinks, your deep purples, and although some of them aren't native, they do very well in this climate. And they like the sandy soils. Love the sandy soils. Hymenopsis. Hymenopsis. It does very well here. It's perky stew, daisy-like, bright yellow flower. Kind of puts your eyes at it so bright. Certainly would. And it's kind of like the sandy soils, rocky soils. This is a good plant. It is. And you've got plants like Apache Plume. Very attractive plant. In the springtime, you get a whitish pink feather blossom. You've got the beautiful little tiny white flowers. Beautiful. If you look at that, you notice that it's in the rose family. Oh, and we've got the globe mallows. The pink does very well. And there's also a red variety. Oh, the red one's pretty. It's really striking, good and tough. And in the right, if you put it in the landscape in the right way, it is a real centerpiece for the landscape. It is. And then there's the endangered species, too. The very pale pink, Seralsea. And so that's one that you can't go dig up. No. And we've got the Mexican evening creme rose. What a show this puts on. It is. It's just beautiful. It does have a tendency to be a bit invasive, but if you hold back the water, you can keep it in check. But also plant it in a place so that there are boundaries so that it can't cross. Exactly. Sidewalks, driveways, we'll kind of hold it in place. It will. And then, best for last, we've got the penstemons. The penstemons. Over 70 different varieties. And you've got a lot of those right here. We have the Rocky Mountain penstemon. Beautiful blue one. Pseudo-spectabulous penstemon. Many different varieties. Barbada. I think I've seen that. And you've got one that I've never seen before. Grandiflora. Grandiflora. That one is spectacular. Large, beautiful blues. That was one that ought to be growing a lot more. And the palmarine. Oh, yes. And children especially love that, because if you get up to the blossom and smell it, it smells like bubblegum. Ah, bubblegum penstemons. Now, these are desert penstemons. They're not native to the East Coast. They're not the ones to plant in Virginia and wet climates. They have to be grown in a dry location. Yeah, they do not like wet feet. And so if you want to kill it, water it. Well, that's it for today's tour at the Rio Grande Botanic Garden. But there's so much more to see right here at the Desert Collection that we'll be back in just a few weeks to show you more. Thank you.