Xeriscape design
Native and adapted plant layouts that live on Albuquerque rainfall. Real grading, real soil prep, drip emitters sized for the July heat.
Albuquerque, NM — Bernalillo & Sandoval Counties
Adan does the work himself.
Family-run landscaping out of the South Valley. Xeriscape design, drip irrigation, artificial turf, tree work, and the seasonal cleanups a high-desert yard actually needs. Se habla español.
Adan Landscaping Services
Adan Landscaping Services
Adan Landscaping Services
About — Adan Landscaping Services
One truck, seven years, the same hands on every job.
Adan Olvera started the company out of the South Valley in 2019 and has run it the same way ever since — one truck, one operator, family help on the books. The work crosses Albuquerque from the South Valley up through the North Valley and the NE Heights, and out across the river into Rio Rancho.
What we do is high-desert work. Yards in Bernalillo County sit on caliche, on heavy clay, on sandy arroyo soil — sometimes all three within a single property line. The plant palette, the drip layout, the way water actually moves after a July storm: those are the things Adan walks for before naming a number.
Si prefiere hablar español, llame al número. Adan contesta.
We don't quote sight-unseen. The soil tells us the price.
— Adan Olvera, owner
What we do — Albuquerque & Rio Rancho
Eight things, done plainly.
Full-service for a high-desert yard. Adan walks every job before quoting.
Drip irrigation
New installs, repairs on existing systems, pressure-regulated emitters, station-valve fixes, and seasonal blow-outs before the first freeze.
Artificial turf install
Compacted base, weed barrier, infill, and a turf product specced for Albuquerque sun. We don't lay turf over caliche without prep.
Tree trimming
Hand-pruning on piñon, juniper, locust, cottonwood, and fruit trees. Crown work, deadwood, and clean cuts that don't tear bark.
Planting
Native and adapted shrubs, perennials, agave, and trees set in correctly amended pockets — not dropped in caliche and hoped at.
Lawn care
Mow, edge, blow, and a watchful eye on the irrigation. Monthly rotation in season, scaled back through the cold months.
Leaf removal
Cottonwood and locust drop hard from late October through Thanksgiving. We clear, haul, and check the drip lines before mulching.
Yard cleaning
Weed pulls, gravel rake-outs, tumbleweed hauls, and post-monsoon storm cleanup. Same crew, same standard, smaller scope.
Why drip lines fail in Albuquerque
Adan sets emitters for the soil that's actually there.
Most of the Albuquerque metro sits on a stack of three things that don't behave like garden-center dirt: a shallow band of sandy topsoil, a layer of heavy clay, and a cement-hard shelf of caliche underneath. Drop a drip emitter on top of that and the water spreads sideways under your mulch — never reaches the root ball. The plant looks healthy for one season and starts to brown the next July.
Step 1 — find the shelf
Most Albuquerque properties hit caliche between 8 and 24 inches down. On the walkthrough we punch a test hole near every planting spot — if a hand auger bounces, the shelf is there.
Step 2 — break it
For trees and bigger shrubs we break through the caliche by hand or with a rented auger so the root ball has somewhere to go. No point putting a piñon on top of cement.
Step 3 — pocket and emit
Backfill the pocket with amended soil, set the drip emitter directly over the root ball — not three feet away on the gravel — and add a pressure regulator at the manifold so July sun doesn't blow lines off the spike.
"A drip line is only as good as the soil it's watering. Half my calls every spring are emitters set on top of caliche by somebody who never dug the hole."
— Adan, owner · Adan Landscaping Services
How a job goes
Four steps, no surprises.
- 01
A phone call
Tell us the address and what you're seeing. English or Spanish — Adan answers either way. Three minutes is enough to start.
- 02
On-site walkthrough
Adan walks the property with you — usually thirty minutes. Sun, drainage, soil, irrigation, what's actually salvageable.
- 03
Written estimate
Number on the spot, broken out by line item. No surprise add-ons later. We don't quote sight-unseen.
- 04
Scheduled work
We pick a window with you. Most jobs land within two to three weeks. Walkthrough at the end, then the invoice.
That’s it. No portals, no logins — a phone call or an email is all it takes.
Where we work
Adan's four corners of Albuquerque.
Home base is the South Valley off Isleta Boulevard, in the 87105 zip. From there we run the river — North Valley up the bosque, across the I-40 bridge into the NE Heights, and over the river into Rio Rancho. Past Rio Rancho or out toward the East Mountains we ask a couple of questions before quoting.
South Valley — 87105
Home base. Off Isleta Blvd. Mature cottonwoods, heavier clay, big irrigated lots that pre-date city water.
North Valley
Bosque-adjacent, sandy in spots, clay in others. Old drip systems almost always need a manifold reset.
NE Heights
Up the slope toward the Sandia foothills. Shallow caliche, rocky pockets, more wind, full sun.
Rio Rancho
Across the river in Sandoval County. Newer subdivisions on re-graded fill — drainage is the question on every job.
Call (505) 504-5228 — Adan returns calls same day.
Reviews — Albuquerque & Rio Rancho
Quiet pride, steady work.
Adan walked the whole backyard with me before he gave a number. Pulled the dead lawn, regraded toward the alley, set new drip, and laid artificial turf in three days. Cleanup like he was never there.
Drip system on a 1990s house had been patched a half-dozen times before we called. Adan pulled the manifold, re-zoned it, and put it on a pressure regulator. First summer in years where the chamisa actually held.
Trimmed two big cottonwoods over the driveway before monsoon. Showed up at 8 like he said, cleaned up like they were never here. Easy to work with — habla español también.
Quoted four other landscapers for an artificial-turf yard. Adan's was the only one who asked about the caliche layer under the topsoil before pricing. Hired on the spot.
Hired Adan for a fall cleanup — leaves, weeds, drip blow-out before the first freeze. Fair price, on time, and he flagged two emitters that were leaking before they ran our bill up.
Four plants that earn their water
What we actually plant in Albuquerque.
USDA zone 7a Bernalillo County — single-digit January nights, 100° July afternoons, and three weeks of monsoon in between. These four anchor every xeriscape we install. We mix and match — the design comes from the way they're set, not from rare species.
very low
Agave
Agave parryi
2–3 ft rosette
Once-in-a-decade flower spike — then it dies, makes pups, repeats.
Architectural focal piece. We site Parry agave in gravel pockets near south- and west-facing walls. Winter-hardy through Albuquerque cold; Americana is not, so we don't plant it.
very low
Yucca
Yucca elata
4–8 ft with bloom spike
Cream-white bell flowers on a tall spike, May into June.
Soaptree yucca handles caliche and sand both. We use it as a single specimen near a corner or as a low cluster along a courtyard wall. Spike grows fast in a wet July.
low
Russian sage
Perovskia atriplicifolia
3–4 ft, airy form
Lavender-blue spires June through September — pollinators love it.
Workhorse perennial for the middle of a bed. Cut hard in late March; comes back airy. We pair it with chamisa for blue-and-gold late-summer color.
very low
Chamisa
Ericameria nauseosa
3–6 ft, fast-establishing
Bright yellow flower clusters mid-August through October.
Rabbitbrush — the late-summer gold of the high desert. Reads as a single mass at the property line. Cut hard in March; lets it stay tidy through July.
"I don't pretend a magazine palette works in Albuquerque. Zone 7a, caliche underfoot, July sun that bleaches everything. I plant what stays."
— Adan · Adan Landscaping Services
Recent work — Albuquerque metro
A few jobs worth showing.
South Valley — DG path + native border 
North Valley — full xeriscape conversion 
NE Heights — agave specimen install 
Rio Rancho — turf-out conversion 
South Valley — juniper crown work 
North Valley — native bed install 
NE Heights — front yard regrade 
Rio Rancho — flagstone + drip 
South Valley — full xeriscape 
Albuquerque — front-yard refresh 
North Valley — adobe-wall courtyard 
NE Heights — drip system reset
Honest pricing
Most starts at$1,300/install
Front-yard xeriscape and DG installs typically start around $1,300 for a standard Albuquerque property. Artificial turf is priced by square foot after Adan walks the base prep. Tree work and yard cleanups quote separately and start much smaller.
Walkthroughs are free anywhere from the South Valley to Rio Rancho. We don't quote sight-unseen — Adan walks every property.
Call (505) 504-5228Questions — Adan Landscaping
Plain answers, in two languages.
Sí. Adan habla español. Llame al número y deje un mensaje si está fuera de un trabajo — devuelve la llamada el mismo día.
Call Adan directly
— Adan Landscaping Services
If we're on a job we'll call back the same day. Albuquerque, NM — se habla español.