Landscaping Progress

On Monday the landscapers Gabriel and Christian started my patio. They leveled the ground, laid base course (which is just gravel pit run with the bigger rocks screened out), tamped it, pinned down landscape fabric (pinned, because the wind was blowing), and started to lay out the flagstones. Carol, the owner of Taos Lanscaping, had asked if I wanted buff color or the red variety of sandstone. She said that the red from Colorado is more durable and less expensive.The process of finding just the right position for each of the heavy stones is a heavy one. In addition the wind is stronger (12 mph now, predicted to reach 25 mph in an hour) than it was yesterday and the temperature 5° lower.

Meanwhile Mike and his wife Denise brought four Piñon pines that they had dug over the weekend. They had phoned me on Sunday, asking if they could come by and plant them then, but I was tied up and could not answer the phone. At any rate, those four trees are in the ground. They are 4-5’ tall at this point, and will not grow huge. Mike said that he had looked for Junipers with berries (the male Juniper pollen is allergenic to my neighbors) but the ones he saw were not very good. They will return later in the week, as they take care of their grandchildren on Tuesday and Wednesday.Piñons and Junipers grow on all the dry hillsides here. The Forest Service gives permits (and good instructions) to dig trees for use as personal Christmas trees, but there is also a lot of private land where one can get permission to dig trees. Last Fall the sides of the roads were crowded with locals parked to pick up the Piñon cones and harvest pine nuts. In addition to live trees, the Forest Service sells permits to collect dead trees, either for latillas (small) or vigas (large).

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