Photography by Daniel Nadelbach Gala apples and Bartlett pears harvested from the homeowners’ orchard are ripe and ready for eating. Pink alpine cranesbill blooms in the background.

A Santa Fe landscape is
transformed into a garden
for all seasons

When landscape designers Azul Cobb and Monika Hellwegen bought their historic-district Santa Fe home seven years ago, the grounds offered a clean slate for their creativity. Aside from some trees, the lot had been cleared by the previous residents. The couple, owners of Carlotta From Paradise, used their talents to transform the grounds into a lush, low-maintenance setting with an Andalusian feel.

“The concept of an Andalusian garden is typically a designed or patterned hardscape center, often combined with a water feature,” Hellwegen explains. “Surrounding this is a perimeter of lush plantings, including vines and trellises. This creates a very intimate and tranquil environment.”

An Andalusian-inspired pebble mosaic set in a flagstone pathway is surrounded by plantings of zinnia, Spanish broom, penstemon and variegated Miscanthus grasses.

Cobb and Hellwegen also wanted the garden to be water-wise, densely planted and a showcase for an assortment of plants that would provide blooms from spring to late fall. And when nothing is in bloom, the stonework and desert grasses, which have plumes in wintertime, still can be enjoyed.

For an inviting entrance, they reworked the small front yard, which has a porch located just feet from the entry gate. Many Santa Fe homeowners with similar layouts erect high walls for privacy, but Hellwegen and Cobb wanted to share the visual bounty of their garden with neighbors. So they built a low adobe wall, installed an open-grid wooden gate, and allowed an assemblage of tall plants to double as a screen and a focal point. Raised planting areas are filled with hardy, colorful xeric perennials.

A simple cross-weave gate provides entry to the front yard. Here, grasses, roses and a blooming Vitex tree act like natural screening and offer privacy from the road.

Making a striking segue from the front yard to the narrow side yard is an Andalusian-inspired star-shaped pebble mosaic pathway designed by Cobb. A larger second side yard includes a vegetable garden and fruit tree orchard. Interestingly, the backyard is so narrow that it serves mostly as a passageway to the other side of the property.


Hellwegen, who is a big believer in water features, chose for the backyard a simple stone basin that sits below a bamboo spout. “We like it for the sound and tranquility it creates, but also because it attracts wildlife. It doesn’t use a lot of water, but the birds love it,” she observes.



Birds are not the only vis-itors; Hellwegen and Cobb entertain friends regularly in the warmer months. But even when it’s just the two of them the garden is restorative. Explains Hellwegen: “You get away, step outside of yourself a bit.” And after designing gardens for 22 years, it’s nice for the couple to come home to their own slice of paradise.