ILLUSTRATION by SERGE BLOCH

Horticulturist David Salman spreads the word about the West's best flora

Twenty-five years ago, horticulturist David Salman helped start a revolution that has impacted gardeners throughout the Southwest. Understanding the need to conserve water in the Western U.S., he expanded the area’s regional plant palette and launched a water-wise plant movement with the opening of Santa Fe Greenhouses.
 
Specializing in finding, hybridizing, testing and growing drought-tolerant native plants and other well-adapted species, Salman’s company offers hardy perennials, ornamental grasses, trees, shrubs, ground covers, cacti and succulents. Getting the word out about these plants has been a key to his success. And Salman has been especially forward-thinking with his outreach efforts; among these are educating and inspiring gardeners with his presentations, seminars, special events, display gardens, Web site, e-zine (electronic magazine) and award-winning print catalog.

“When I started the nursery, I chose to focus on plants that were well-adapted to the West because I felt that many of the perennials and woody plants in the trade were best-suited to the Eastern U.S.,” Salman explains. “I wanted to sell a palette of plants suited to our poor soils, dry conditions and unpredictable weather.”

Photography by highcountrygardens.com David Salman began his display gardens a year after opening his nursery, and they have evolved into a local attraction with guided tours in summer. Vignettes include Tennessee coneflower, Hidcote giant French lavender, and Acapulco salmon and pink hummingbird mint.

“David is drawn to the arid beauty of the Western landscape and doesn’t try to turn it into something else,” comments well-known garden designer and author Lauren Springer Ogden. “He has revolutionized gardening by providing so many plant choices that grow well in the West. I think he’s one of the most important figures in U.S. gardening.”
Raised in Houston and Taos, New Mexico, Salman earned a degree in horticultural science from Colorado State University in 1979. After gaining practical experience at a nursery and wholesale greenhouse in the Denver area, he returned to New Mexico in 1982 to manage a greenhouse in Santa Fe owned by Ken Hardy.
 
“I had wanted to start my own nursery business since college and had been studying various options to make that happen,” Salman recalls. His timing was fortuitous—in 1983 Hardy decided to sell part of his property, and the horticulturist seized the opportunity to open Santa Fe Greenhouses, which specializes in low-water-use plants.

Salman prefers the term “water-wise” to “xeriscape” because there is so much misconception over the latter. He notes that some people mistakenly believe xeriscape refers to “zeroscape”—a yard covered with a sea of gravel. “From an environmental standpoint, such landscapes intensify the urban heat-island effect,” adds this Master of the Southwest. “Landscapes that follow valid xeriscape principles cool their surroundings with colorful and diverse plantings.”