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QUERCUS | David C

@qland_dac

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Las Cruces NM USA
Chihuahuan Desert: zone 8b
Registered Landscape Architect:
Texas # 2140
NM we'll see...
NV probably not again

POSTS STORIES REELS

Purple notes from fleeting flowers
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Leucophyllum zygophyllum 'Cimarron' with friends Dasylirion wheeleri, Nolina microcarpa, and Prosopis torreyana. Agave neomexicana and Fouquieria splendens are looking from beyond.
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#olddesign #streetscape #nearhome #flowersarefleeting #enjoy #picachomountain #lascruces #nativeplant #desiertochihuahuense #chihuahuandesert #quercusinthefield by @qland_dac

Good light quality tonight, on ocotillo and sotol. Seen returning home from my sunset hike.
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@fxluminaire low-voltage lighting still doing some heavy lifting, 15 years after my design and Robert Macias' install here. Needs fine-tuning where replacement bulbs are too-bright.
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Ocotillos were seed-grown by Mtn States Nursery, not wild-collected or salvaged. Sold by @dangerdansuperior , they're getting huge!
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#ocotillo #sotol #nativeplant #spikyplants #desiertochihuahuense #chihuahuandesert #mesillavalley #picachomountain #lascruces #olddesign #quercusinthefield #landscapelighting #lowvoltagelighting by @qland_dac

Aliso I: the crunch of the aggregate path*, a peaceful walk up an architectural canyon.

A wild take on an upland desert oasis; an arroyo, not a floodplain. All xeric species that are mostly native to central NM, providing sense and place.
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Photos are 5 and 3 years from installation
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#quercusinthefield #oldjob #chilopsislinearis #dasylirionwheeleri #yuccarupicola #partheniumincanum #texnewmex #desiertochihuahuense #chihuahuandesert #burque #albuquerque #arroyo #permeable #breakingbad #multifamily #zone7b #zone8a

*before path was paved over, short-sightedly by @qland_dac

Winter vs. summer at a community college entrance, for one of my designs.

Quercus fusiformis, Rhaphiolepis indica, and Dasylirion wheeleri for a lush desert oasis, when low maintenance actually means almost no maintenance. Caliche soils for even more challenges!

Ordinary plant species still work, though not my ideal native: Pointleaf Manzanita / A. pungens. Unavailable and the site's caliche layer.

Perennial wildflowers are too fussy for these spaces or their maintenance level, let alone any herbicide drift from other work. Evergreen for the down times of winter dormancy or the lull of summer.

#quercusinthefield #desertoasis #plantforward #lowmaintenance #evergreen by @qland_dac

Expectation management, this time how calming but usable a small garden space is. Including what it contains.

Many people don't get scale and the area required for each desired element, hence this is in CAD and not the ideal, loose hand sketches. Hopefully a scaled, organized layout speaks logic to him, a CPA.

To me both options have too much going on, that my client really wants (today) for a 28 x 20 foot or narrower courtyard. Grill area, rock fire pit, deep chairs, seat wall, dining table for 6, and a fountain. Pick 3 or 4!

You can probably tell I don't like clutter. Tripping and chaos in a space, or between kitchen prep and grill area, are not an option. Hoping to discuss with him over a screen share - he's in Philly; the project a 15 minute drive from me.

Wish we could meet there over a cheesesteak sandwich. But that's not important right now...

On design perfection: "...not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing to take away."
- Antoine de St-Exupery

Time to grill up dinner! by @qland_dac

Site inventory and measuring, then creating the site background or base plan, is the first step. The designer just needs to lean into it.

There's no magic button for this, or anything in garden design. It's knowledge and inspiration, science and art.

And always sense and place.

Add a little psychology, even a gin & tonic after 4! by @qland_dac

I'm David, the guy behind QUERCUS. Allow me to introduce myself, a man of wellness and taste...

It's my 30 year anniversary in solo-practice as a garden designer. My work goes even farther back, but New Mexico... I had to start my own design practice, to escape the mediocre and uninspired, and move towards sense and place. No apathy or gatekeeping here.

I enjoy relaxing and staying active, being outdoors or home, mountain biking or hiking, or in the shade. Eating tasty, simple food, listening to great music, and traveling when I can.

Once a registered landscape architect in three states (and I might reactivate 1+ of those), I've envisioned a range of project scales from small front yards of homes to larger health care or academic landscapes.

Like the place you'd rather be than on vacation, instead of escaping. Reshaping the out of shape. Evoking what makes a place great, with understated design that's un-busy hardscape and lower water-use native plant, form and foliage-forward. I tried a second career path as a county planner, and I even got close to embarking on a third in real estate. But those just weren't right.

Who knows what the future holds, lucky or unlucky. But for clients or friends who go deeper, you can count on this truth-seeking climate nerd, design snob without pretense, to bring you more! by @qland_dac

Fun with Photoshop, a de-clutter of a front garden design. You'll probably catch what I did - but wait until I show the front entry planters!
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Possibly no Photoshop needed for that
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Those who add by whims miss better outcomes. Those of us not that way, refine, but we must grow even stronger in conviction and independence. Serve, don't just service.
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#texas #faroutwesttexas #challenges #design isn't #easy #notampering #reduce #reductionism #refine #xeric #garden be #inspired by #place #ecoregion #desiertochihuahuense #chihuahuandesert #nativeplant #ourlocalproduct nurseriesstink #borderland #blues #noteasy #thestruggleisreal #dontgiveup by @qland_dac

Muhlenbergia porteri / Bush Muhley
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Entirely unavailable in our nurseries and often seen but unknown by most residents. A common grass in our Chihuahuan desert shrubland and desert grassland communities, and here in the adjacent foothills. Even counter to agricultural college narratives and textbooks ... under creosote bush. Yes!
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But the nurseries are like that pawn shop show: "no, best we can do is" regal mist grass (gulf or pink muhley).
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Collect some seed this fall and grow it yourselves! Hardy to at least zone 6b. by @qland_dac

A little courtyard and reading spot at a larger project
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Spiky and shrubby, stone and stress, and walls and (plant) wisdom. Yuccas, yaupons*, nolinas, salvias*, and even liriope*. (*interior oasis)
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#desert #design #oldproject #newmexico #oasis #native #adapted #plants #fleetingflowers #formforward #foliageforward by @qland_dac

Rows, rhythm, and randomness
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With grasses cut back yearly, though unnecessary, the planting bones come through for the win. Even as spring is still coming on. Blue-green Dasylirion wheeleri brighten the leaden light.
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When spring is farther along, I shall return.
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https://magazine.texasarchitects.org/2024/07/09/desert-time/
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#quercusinthefield #oxfordcommaalways #elpaso #garden #design #tuinin #desiertochihuahuense #chihuahuandesert # by @qland_dac

Parking areas at a condo complex. That's "car park", if you're listening to my iPhone's Siri navigation voice, Sheila the name (Australian female currently, so...)
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But that's a tangent
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Quercus muhlenbergii, Vauquelinia californica, Muhlenbergia rigida, and Hesperaloe parviflora were mostly used. Even the trees are growing well, in spite of my structural soil or deep root cells being "value engineered" out of the project's paved areas, among other things.
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Providing meaningful "soil volumes" for "critical root zones" of trees is value, but my effort was in vain!
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#parking #oaks #spikyplants #grasses #desert #design #teamworktakesmorethanone #shade #heattolerant by @qland_dac