Gardens at La Posada Hotel — Sustainable Desert Communities, Old & New

Mary Colter’s original design for La Posada included plans for not only the hotel building but also for an extensive garden — one based on sustainable desert plant communities. Unfortunately, these plans were never implemented because the Santa Fe Railway faced major budgetary constraints in the years following the Great Depression. Until recently, La Posada’s grounds featured many large cottonwood trees that have been removed because of old age and disease. Prior to the hotel’s renovation, many other trees had died because of topping, a practice that inflicts great harm by weakening and starving the tree.

Our latest restoration efforts at La Posada focus on bringing Mary Colter’s vision for a beautiful Southwest garden to life. We are working with her original plans to recreate this vision; we anticipate that the firs phase of the gardens will be completed by spring 2007.