Subdivision: Camino de Las Huertas
Owner/ Designer: Mike Myers
Garden Type or Feature: Native trees and landforms have been left untouched or freed to return to the natural forms. Junipers and pinon pines grow around small arroyos that still channel water through the property, rather than around it. He has removed dying plants and is planting drought tolerant plants as a replacement. Fanciful sculptures are beginning to appear around the property including a metal alien and a bench overlooking the family’s memorial grove.
Artist in the Garden: Dale Laitinen.
Description: Mike Myers describes his little slice of wooded paradise as eclectic and mystical. He moved to Placitas a few years ago from Texas looking for a place that has unique and green building features. He found it and perhaps more. An imposing Stonehenge structure greets visitors at the gate, a circle of large stones that define a special place to view the annual solstice as well as every sunset and sunrise.
Since 2021, Mike has grown to appreciate the mystical tranquility of watching the sky inside those towering stone columns and the peaceful, nearly native landscape that surrounds them. As their caretaker, he is guided by the belief that people should live in a symbiotic relationship with the earth and nature. It’s the same principle he applies as a national sustainability and green building expert, to consider every aspect of the intersection of the built and natural environment.
Mike is practicing what he preaches as he works to make the home “net-zero” emissions, replacing existing fossil-fuel systems with new solar panel and battery powered systems. He is also remodeling the home to make it more energy and water efficient and to bring the colors of the Placitas landscape into the home.
Outside, native trees and landforms have been left untouched or freed to return to the natural forms. Junipers and pinon pines grow around small arroyos that still channel water through the property, rather than around it. He has removed dying plants and is planting drought tolerant plants as a replacement. Fanciful sculptures are beginning to appear around the property including a metal alien and a bench overlooking the family’s memorial grove.
