New Mexico Landscape Architects
New Mexico Landscape Architects - Land Planning, Landscape Architecture & Irrigation Design
Evergreen Design Group is a team of New Mexico landscape architects providing land planning, landscape architecture, tree disposition plans, and irrigation design services to land developers, civil engineers, architects, and design-build contractors across the state. Headquartered in Bluffton, South Carolina, and licensed and actively practicing in New Mexico since 2005, our firm delivers construction-ready documentation for commercial, mixed-use, and institutional development projects statewide.
Evergreen Design Group at a Glance in New Mexico
- Firm: Evergreen Design Group, headquartered in Bluffton, South Carolina
- Founded: 2005 — 21 years of continuous practice
- New Mexico licensure: Active, in-house, no subcontracting
- National footprint: Licensed and actively practicing in 43 states
- Service lines: Land planning, landscape architecture, tree disposition plans, planting design, community amenities design, hardscape design, irrigation design
- Client base: Exclusively B2B — land developers, civil engineers, architects, design-build contractors
- New Mexico markets served: Albuquerque, Rio Rancho, Santa Fe, Las Cruces, and secondary markets statewide
Our practice is exclusively B2B. We work as a coordinated subconsultant and project partner to development and design teams — not homeowners — and our deliverables are structured for permit submittal, technical review, and direct integration with your civil and architectural scope. We do not subcontract your landscape architecture, land planning New Mexico, or irrigation design New Mexico scope to third parties.
We have been licensed and actively practicing landscape architecture in New Mexico since 2005, with project experience spanning the Albuquerque metro and Bernalillo County, Santa Fe and Santa Fe County, the Rio Rancho and Sandoval County market, Las Cruces and Doña Ana County, and development projects across New Mexico’s diverse physiographic regions — from the Chihuahuan Desert of the south to the high-elevation mountain environments of the north.
Landscape Architecture Firm New Mexico
Evergreen Design Group is a landscape architecture firm in New Mexico operating at both a local and national scale. We hold active New Mexico licensure and maintain active registrations in 43 states — and our team brings direct project experience navigating the City of Albuquerque’s Integrated Development Ordinance, the City of Santa Fe’s Land Development Code, the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer prior appropriation water rights framework, the NMED Construction General Permit stormwater program, and the varying county-level development standards across New Mexico’s active development markets.
As a landscape architecture firm serving New Mexico developers, civil engineers, and architects, we bring jurisdiction-specific knowledge of the regulatory requirements that vary meaningfully across the state. Albuquerque’s IDO and Santa Fe’s Land Development Code are distinct codes with distinct xeriscape, canopy, and water budget requirements. The Bernalillo County, Sandoval County, and Doña Ana County development standards differ from those of their respective municipal neighbors. We apply market-specific knowledge to each engagement rather than treating New Mexico as a single regulatory environment.
Our New Mexico landscape architecture practice is exclusively B2B. Our clients are architects, civil engineers, land developers, and design-build contractors who need landscape architects in New Mexico who understand entitlement timelines, deliver construction-ready documentation, and integrate cleanly into their project teams.
The Regulatory Framework That Shapes Landscape Architecture in New Mexico
New Mexico’s development regulatory environment is shaped by water scarcity, prior appropriation water law, and a municipal landscape ordinance landscape that is meaningfully different between the state’s major development markets. Understanding these layers is foundational to producing landscape architecture deliverables that satisfy development review requirements efficiently.
New Mexico Office of the State Engineer — Prior Appropriation Water Rights
New Mexico is a prior appropriation water rights state — all water within the state belongs to the public and is subject to OSE jurisdiction and permitting. The prior appropriation doctrine governs consumptive water use, including landscape irrigation, and water rights availability in New Mexico’s major development markets is a real constraint on irrigation system design and planting plan development. Municipal water providers in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Rio Rancho, and Las Cruces each operate within OSE-administered frameworks that establish water conservation requirements and, in some cases, water budget limitations that directly affect how commercial irrigation systems are designed. We develop all New Mexico irrigation designs with these framework requirements as baseline constraints, not afterthoughts.
Albuquerque Integrated Development Ordinance (IDO)
The City of Albuquerque’s Integrated Development Ordinance is the comprehensive land development code governing zoning, site development standards, and landscape requirements within the city limits. The IDO establishes xeriscape requirements, minimum landscape coverage standards, parking lot canopy and shade tree provisions, street frontage landscape standards, and buffer yard requirements that apply to commercial and multi-family development permit submittals. Plans that arrive at the City’s Development Review Board without complete IDO-compliant documentation are among the most common sources of development review delays in the Albuquerque market. We design to IDO standards from the initial site planning stage.
Santa Fe Land Development Code
The City of Santa Fe’s Land Development Code establishes its own landscape and xeriscape standards, including plant palette requirements, coverage calculations, and water conservation compliance benchmarks calibrated to Santa Fe’s high-altitude Chihuahuan Desert environment. Santa Fe’s landscape standards are more prescriptive in some respects than Albuquerque’s IDO, and they reflect the city’s strong commitment to water conservation and xeriscape design. We bring jurisdiction-specific knowledge of the Santa Fe Land Development Code to projects within Santa Fe city limits and coordinate with the City’s development review process accordingly.
NMED Construction General Permit — Stormwater
The New Mexico Environment Department administers the Construction General Permit for land-disturbing activities of one acre or more. CGP-covered projects must prepare a Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan addressing erosion and sediment control during construction and post-construction stormwater management. Vegetated BMPs — bioswales, retention basins, vegetated swales, and erosion control plantings — require landscape architecture scope in the form of planting plans and vegetation establishment specifications. We prepare these deliverables in coordination with your civil engineer of record as standard scope on New Mexico commercial projects.
Bernalillo County and Sandoval County Development Standards
Development activity in the Albuquerque metro extends well beyond the city limits into Bernalillo County and Sandoval County — particularly in the rapidly growing Rio Rancho market and the East Mountains development corridor. Bernalillo County’s development standards and Sandoval County’s land development regulations each establish their own landscape and site development requirements that differ from the City of Albuquerque’s IDO. We bring county-level jurisdictional knowledge to unincorporated market projects across the Albuquerque metro rather than applying the city’s IDO standards to projects outside city jurisdiction.
Wildland-Urban Interface and Defensible Space
New Mexico’s wildland-urban interface conditions — particularly in the Albuquerque foothills, the Santa Fe metro, the East Mountains, and the communities of the Jemez Mountains and Rio Grande bosque corridor — create defensible space design requirements for development projects in these zones. Fire-resistant plant palette selection, strategic vegetation spacing, and hardscape buffer design are standard landscape architecture scope items on projects in New Mexico’s wildland-urban interface areas, and they interact directly with local defensible space ordinances and New Mexico State Forestry Division requirements.
Landscape Architecture Services We Provide in New Mexico
We deliver a complete range of landscape architecture services for development projects throughout the Albuquerque, Rio Rancho, Santa Fe, and Las Cruces metros, along with New Mexico’s secondary development markets statewide. Our services are structured to fit your project’s phase, scope, and regulatory requirements — from early entitlement and land planning through full construction document production and construction phase oversight.
We develop land use plans, site plans, and conceptual layouts that satisfy the City of Albuquerque’s Integrated Development Ordinance, the City of Santa Fe’s Land Development Code, Bernalillo County’s development standards, and the applicable municipal and county zoning frameworks governing development across New Mexico. Our land planning New Mexico services address open space requirements, buffer yard classifications, pedestrian and vehicular circulation, stormwater BMP siting, and xeriscape compliance — all coordinated with your civil engineer from the initial layout stage.
Early land planning coordination is critical in New Mexico because IDO xeriscape compliance zones, water harvesting basin siting, stormwater BMP locations, and defensible space buffer requirements create interdependencies between landscape architecture and civil engineering decisions that must be resolved at the site planning stage, not after the civil plan set is substantially developed.
Permit-ready planting plans tailored to New Mexico’s statewide xeriscape and water conservation requirements, applicable municipal landscape ordinances, and the specific climate conditions of each project’s location. New Mexico’s development landscape spans multiple climate zones and plant hardiness regions — from the Chihuahuan Desert of the south (Zone 7b–8a) through the Rio Grande basin development markets of Albuquerque and Rio Rancho (Zone 7a–7b) to the high-altitude, four-season environment of Santa Fe and northern New Mexico (Zone 6b). Species selection, soil amendment strategies, and irrigation water budgets vary significantly across these zones, and we design planting plans calibrated to the actual site conditions rather than a statewide desert template.
Commonly specified New Mexico native and adapted species include blue palo verde, desert willow, one-seed juniper, piñon pine, Apache plume, four-wing saltbush, purple three-awn, blue grama, black-eyed Susan, desert marigold, narrowleaf cottonwood, and other species drawn from the Chihuahuan and Great Basin Desert plant communities and the region’s riparian and upland environments.
Comprehensive tree inventory and disposition documentation prepared to meet the development permit requirements of New Mexico municipalities and counties. Tree protection standards and the thresholds that trigger disposition plan requirements vary by jurisdiction — Albuquerque’s IDO, Santa Fe’s Land Development Code, and county-level development standards each establish their own frameworks. Our plans include field-verified inventories, species and caliper documentation, condition assessment, regulated removal impact analysis, mitigation calculations, and replacement specifications formatted to support the applicable jurisdiction’s development review process.
Pool surrounds, ramadas, shade structures, tot lots, sport courts, dog parks, and common open spaces for multi-family residential and master-planned communities throughout New Mexico. Amenity designs are developed to HOA standards, local building and zoning codes, ADA accessibility requirements, and the thermal comfort demands of New Mexico’s high-desert climate — where summer sun intensity and wide diurnal temperature swings require shade structure coverage, heat-reflective surface materials, and wind protection as standard design parameters. We design amenity spaces to perform through New Mexico’s full climate range, including significant cold-season exposure at higher elevations.
Parking lot landscape screening, streetscapes, pedestrian plazas, entry features, retaining structures, and structured outdoor spaces for commercial, mixed-use, and institutional projects across New Mexico. Material specifications account for New Mexico’s extreme UV intensity, significant freeze-thaw exposure at elevations above 5,000 feet, high-desert wind, and the xeriscape and water harvesting requirements embedded in Albuquerque’s IDO, Santa Fe’s Land Development Code, and other applicable municipal landscape standards.
New Mexico’s water regulatory environment is among the most stringent in the western United States. Water rights in New Mexico are governed by the prior appropriation doctrine administered by the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer, and all consumptive uses of water — including landscape irrigation — are subject to OSE jurisdiction. Municipal water providers in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Rio Rancho, and Las Cruces each implement their own water conservation programs and tiered rate structures that establish water budget constraints on commercial irrigation system design.
Our irrigation design New Mexico team produces detailed drip, subsurface, and smart controller system designs that comply with applicable municipal water conservation standards, OSE framework requirements, and the specific water budget parameters of each project. Flow and pressure calculations, backflow prevention documentation, zone layout and controller specifications, and water budget calculations formatted to support commercial permit review are standard deliverables on every New Mexico irrigation project.
Project Types We Support in New Mexico
Evergreen Design Group supports landscape architecture and land planning scope across a wide range of development types in New Mexico. All project work is B2B — performed for developers, civil engineers, architects, and design-build contractors. Active project types include:
- Single-family residential subdivisions and master-planned communities
- Multi-family and build-to-rent communities
- Mixed-use and town center developments
- Retail centers, pad sites, and commercial outparcels
- Office and corporate campus projects
- Industrial parks, logistics facilities, and warehousing
- Energy sector-related commercial and industrial development
- Institutional and educational campuses, including university-adjacent development
- Senior living and continuing care communities
- Municipal parks and civic facilities
- Healthcare and medical campus environments
New Mexico Development Markets We Serve
Albuquerque and Bernalillo County
The Albuquerque metro is New Mexico’s primary development market, with active residential, commercial, mixed-use, and industrial project activity across the city and its suburban ring in Bernalillo County. We work on projects throughout the Albuquerque metro under the IDO’s development review framework and the varying standards of Bernalillo County’s unincorporated areas.
Rio Rancho and Sandoval County
Rio Rancho is one of the fastest-growing development markets in New Mexico, with significant residential subdivision, multi-family, and commercial development activity in the Intel campus corridor and the communities of northern Sandoval County. Development in Rio Rancho operates under the City of Rio Rancho’s development review framework — distinct from Albuquerque’s IDO — with its own landscape and xeriscape requirements. We bring Rio Rancho-specific knowledge to projects in this market.
Santa Fe and Santa Fe County
Santa Fe is New Mexico’s second-largest metro and a distinct development environment from Albuquerque — characterized by the city’s strong design review culture, strict Land Development Code xeriscape requirements, and the high-altitude Chihuahuan Desert context that shapes both regulatory expectations and plant palette selection. Development in Santa Fe County outside the city limits operates under the County’s own land development standards.
Las Cruces and Doña Ana County
Las Cruces is New Mexico’s second-largest city and the primary development center of the Chihuahuan Desert’s southern basin. Development activity in the Las Cruces market — including the growing Doña Ana County suburban ring and the university development corridor associated with New Mexico State University — operates under the City of Las Cruces’s development review framework and Doña Ana County’s standards.
Secondary New Mexico Markets
We support development projects in Farmington and San Juan County, Roswell and Chaves County, Carlsbad and Eddy County (including energy sector-related development activity), Hobbs and Lea County, Taos, and other secondary New Mexico markets. Each operates under its own municipal and county regulatory framework, and we bring jurisdiction-specific knowledge to projects across the state.
Why Development Teams in New Mexico Work With Us
Licensed in New Mexico — In-House, No Subcontracting
All landscape architectural services for New Mexico projects are performed by our licensed professionals under Evergreen Design Group’s New Mexico licensure — no subcontracting of scope. Every deliverable we produce in New Mexico is covered under a properly licensed entity, with consistent quality and clear accountability throughout the project.
IDO, Santa Fe Land Development Code, and OSE Water Framework Fluency
New Mexico’s two largest development markets operate under distinct municipal landscape codes, and the state’s prior appropriation water rights framework creates irrigation design constraints that differ significantly from most other states. We understand these regulatory environments and bring jurisdiction-specific knowledge to projects across the state.
Statewide Market Depth
The Albuquerque, Rio Rancho, Santa Fe, and Las Cruces markets are meaningfully different in their regulatory frameworks, development review cultures, climate conditions, and project type concentrations. We understand those distinctions and apply market-specific knowledge to each engagement rather than treating New Mexico as a single regulatory environment.
Subconsultant Structure Across New Mexico Markets
The majority of our New Mexico engagements are structured as subconsultant relationships with civil engineering or architecture firms. We operate within your project structure — coordinating with your team, responding to your schedule, and delivering in your preferred format throughout the design and entitlement process.
21 Years of National Practice, Southwest Desert Expertise
We have been practicing landscape architecture since 2005 across 40+ states. Our depth of Southwest desert experience — spanning New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and the broader arid West — is built from sustained project engagement across the region’s distinct development environments.
Frequently Asked Questions: New Mexico Landscape Architects
Is Evergreen Design Group licensed to practice landscape architecture in New Mexico?
Yes. All landscape architectural services for New Mexico projects are performed by our licensed professionals under Evergreen Design Group’s New Mexico licensure.
Do you work with homeowners or individual residential clients in New Mexico?
No. Our practice is exclusively B2B. We serve land developers, civil engineers, architects, and design-build contractors. We do not take on individual homeowner projects.
What New Mexico markets do you actively serve?
We work statewide. Active markets include Albuquerque and Bernalillo County, Rio Rancho and Sandoval County, Santa Fe and Santa Fe County, Las Cruces and Doña Ana County, Farmington, Roswell, Carlsbad, and secondary markets across the state.
What does land planning in New Mexico involve for commercial development projects?
Land planning New Mexico scope involves developing site plans, open space configurations, buffer yard layouts, xeriscape compliance zones, stormwater BMP siting, and water harvesting basin placement that satisfy the applicable jurisdiction’s zoning and development review requirements. In Albuquerque, that means IDO compliance from the initial site layout stage. In Santa Fe, it means the Land Development Code’s xeriscape and coverage requirements. In Rio Rancho and county markets, it means the applicable municipal or county development standards — all coordinated with your civil engineer from the outset. Our land planning New Mexico services are performed in-house with no subcontracting of scope.
How does the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer affect irrigation design on commercial projects?
New Mexico is a prior appropriation water rights state — all consumptive water use, including landscape irrigation, falls under OSE jurisdiction. Municipal water providers in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Rio Rancho, and Las Cruces operate within OSE-administered frameworks that establish water conservation requirements and, in some markets, water budget limitations that directly affect how commercial irrigation systems must be designed. We develop all New Mexico irrigation designs with these framework requirements as baseline parameters rather than optional compliance considerations.
What is the Albuquerque IDO and how does it affect landscape architecture scope?
The City of Albuquerque’s Integrated Development Ordinance is the comprehensive land development code governing zoning, site development standards, and landscape requirements within city limits. The IDO establishes xeriscape requirements, minimum landscape coverage standards, parking lot canopy and shade tree provisions, street frontage landscape standards, and buffer yard requirements that must be documented in commercial development permit submittals. We design to IDO standards from the initial site planning stage to ensure landscape compliance is built into the site layout before the civil plans are finalized.
Do you work in Bernalillo County and Sandoval County outside of Albuquerque city limits?
Yes. We work throughout the Albuquerque metro under both City of Albuquerque and county jurisdiction. Development in unincorporated Bernalillo County and the Rio Rancho market in Sandoval County operates under the applicable county and municipal development standards — not the City’s IDO — and we bring that jurisdiction-specific knowledge to projects across the metro.
Can you serve as a subconsultant to a civil engineering or architecture firm on a New Mexico project?
Yes — that is one of our most common engagement structures in New Mexico. We integrate into your project team and deliver landscape architecture scope as a subconsultant, coordinating directly with your project manager and other disciplines throughout the design and entitlement process.
When should a landscape architect be engaged on a New Mexico commercial development project?
As early as possible — ideally at the site planning stage, before the civil plan set is substantially developed. Early engagement allows IDO xeriscape compliance zones, stormwater BMP locations, water harvesting basin siting, and buffer yard requirements to be integrated into the site layout before those decisions are locked in. Projects that engage landscape architecture early consistently produce cleaner submittals and fewer revision cycles through New Mexico’s development review processes.
What is the process for scoping and engaging Evergreen Design Group on a New Mexico project?
Engagement typically begins with a review of your site plan, jurisdiction, and project schedule so we can scope landscape architecture, land planning, or irrigation design services against your civil and architectural deliverables. From there, we confirm whether the project falls under Albuquerque’s IDO, Santa Fe’s Land Development Code, or an applicable county framework, establish a fee proposal aligned to your submittal milestones, and integrate into your project team as a subconsultant. We recommend engaging as early as the site planning stage so xeriscape compliance, water budget constraints, and buffer yard requirements are addressed before the civil plan set is substantially developed.
How does Santa Fe's design review process differ from Albuquerque's for landscape architecture submittals?
Santa Fe’s Land Development Code applies more prescriptive plant palette, coverage, and water conservation benchmarks than Albuquerque’s IDO, and Santa Fe’s development review process reflects the city’s stronger design review culture. Projects in Santa Fe city limits should budget additional coordination time for these jurisdiction-specific requirements, particularly for xeriscape compliance and high-altitude Chihuahuan Desert plant palette selection. We bring jurisdiction-specific knowledge of the Santa Fe Land Development Code to every project within city limits and coordinate directly with the City’s development review process on your behalf.
Talk to Our New Mexico Landscape Architecture Team
If you’re a civil engineer, land developer, architect, or design-build contractor with a project in Albuquerque, Rio Rancho, Santa Fe, Las Cruces, or anywhere across New Mexico, Evergreen Design Group’s landscape architects in New Mexico are ready to discuss your project scope, schedule, and team structure.
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