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"Unfortunately there's a great misconception that xeriscape is a lot of rocks and scraggly looking plants," said David Salman, with High Country Gardens, the catalog division of Santa Fe Greenhouses.

High Country Gardens is a sponsor of the Xeriscape Conference Expo on Saturday, which should dry up some of those misconceptions. Seminars will demonstrate how to conserve water and still have a lawn or how to use native plants as a landscape.

The free one-day workshops feature two tracks that run every hour beginning at 9 a.m. with the last one beginning at 2 p.m.

"One track goes through all the steps of xeriscape, preparation, plants and maintenance," said Scott Varner of the Xeriscape Council of New Mexico. "For those who have been to those sessions in previous years, we've set up stuff like water harvesting, ornamental grasses, rock gardens, low-water features in the garden and making your landscape wildlife friendly."

Other sessions cover changing your sprinkler system to a drip system, planting in containers and how to prune ornamental grasses.

"It's great chance for people who've recently moved to Albuquerque to get to know plants appropriate for this desert climate," Varner said. "Many people don't know where they've moved when they come to Albuquerque. It's a desert."

Your landscape doesn't have to look like a tarantula could crawl out at any moment, though.

For people who love a green lawn and who don't think their house looks right without it, there is an alternative that is still within the xeriscape plan.

"The first thing I would say is . . . rip out that stupid Kentucky bluegrass and put in native grass," Salman said. "Use buffalo grass, which is native grass. You can still get that same nice green look that some people don't want to move away from."

Buffalo grass requires one-fourth the water in a year that Kentucky bluegrass does, Salman said. And it only needs mowing about three times a year, which also keeps gas lawnmowers from polluting the air as often.

For those who like blossoms, you can choose plants that bloom from April to September in colors from yellow to red to purple. Many plants have leaves that are evergreen.

"A well-done xeriscape should be beautiful and create a much more comfortable living situation for your home," Salman said.

It also requires less maintenance.

"You don't have to be mowing the lawn and clipping the hedges" every week, he said.