Landscape & Gardens · San Miguel de Allende
Landscape Design & Gardener Training
in San Miguel de Allende
Gardens designed for San Miguel's climate — drought-smart planting, courtyards, rooftop terraces, and irrigation that respects the water you have. And because a garden is only as good as the care it gets, we train and mentor the gardener who looks after it.
Why It Matters in SMA
A garden here is won or lost in the dry season.
San Miguel is high, dry, and sunny nine months of the year. Gardens designed for somewhere else struggle — and gardens designed well still fail if nobody knows how to care for them. We handle both halves: the design, and the person who maintains it.
Eight months without rain
The dry season is long and the sun is intense at 1,900 meters. Planting chosen for a different climate needs constant water to survive — and often dies anyway.
Water is scarce and costly
SMA's water table is under pressure and bills reflect it. A well-designed garden uses a fraction of the water — through plant choice, drip irrigation, mulch, and grouping by need.
Owners who come and go
Second homes empty out for months. Without a clear care plan, a garden drifts: over-watered, badly pruned, or quietly dying while you're away.
Gardeners without training
Most gardeners in SMA learned on the job and work by habit — hard pruning at the wrong time, daily watering, no soil care. Trained properly, the same person becomes an asset.
What We Do
Designed for this climate, built to be cared for.
From the first plant plan to the finished garden — design, hardscape, irrigation, and planting coordinated under one architect, in the same way we run every other project.
Courtyard & Garden Design
Full design for colonial courtyards, patios, and gardens — layout, planting plan, materials, and lighting, drawn before anything is planted or built.
Drought-Smart Planting
Agave, rosemary, lavender, salvia, bougainvillea, native trees — plants that belong here, arranged so the garden looks alive year-round without heavy watering.
Irrigation & Water Management
Drip lines, zoned timers, and rainwater capture sized to your planting — so watering is measured and automatic, not a hose left running.
Rooftop & Terrace Gardens
Container gardens and green terraces engineered for real rooftops: load, drainage, waterproofing, and wind — coordinated with our terrace team.
Hardscape, Paths & Planters
Cantera paths, stone planters, walls, ironwork trellises, and fountains — built by the same trades that handle our architecture projects.
Maintenance Plans
A written seasonal calendar — what to prune, when, how much to water each month — plus scheduled visits and photo reports if you are abroad.
Gardener Training & Mentoring
We do not replace your gardener. We train him.
Most SMA gardeners are hardworking and loyal, and were never taught the technique behind the work. Firing that person and hiring another rarely fixes it. Instead, we work alongside your gardener — on your property, in Spanish, with your plants — until the care matches the garden.
Pruning done right
What to cut, what to leave, and when. Correct pruning for citrus, roses, bougainvillea, and native shrubs — the single change that transforms most gardens.
Watering by season
How much, how often, and how it changes between the dry season and the rains. Deep, spaced watering instead of a daily sprinkle that keeps roots shallow.
Soil, compost & fertilizing
SMA soil is thin and alkaline. We teach composting, mulching, and a simple feeding schedule that keeps plants strong instead of dependent.
Pests & plant health
How to spot scale, aphids, and fungus early, and treat them with the least aggressive method that works — before a plant is lost.
A written care calendar
Your gardener leaves with a month-by-month plan for your specific garden — not general advice. Owners get the same document, in English.
Follow-up & mentoring
We come back. Check-in visits, corrections, and answers by WhatsApp — so the training holds after we've left, not just the week we were there.
Our Process
Clear Steps. Zero Surprises.
Whether it is a full garden design or training the gardener you already have — the same process, explained in English, documented at every stage.
WhatsApp Us
Tell us about your garden and what is not working — a redesign, a dry-season problem, or a gardener who needs guidance. We reply the same day.
Site & Soil Visit
We walk the property, assess sun, soil, drainage, water access, and the health of what is already planted, and talk with your gardener.
Plan & Written Quote
You receive a planting and design plan, or a training scope, plus an itemized quote in English. No hidden costs.
Build & Plant
Hardscape, irrigation, and planting executed by our team, coordinated by the architect — so the garden goes in the way it was drawn.
Training & Handoff
We train your gardener on the finished garden, leave the written care calendar, and schedule follow-up visits so it stays the way you saw it.
Related Services
A Property That Works Inside and Out
Gardens rarely stand alone. These are the services SMA homeowners most often coordinate with a landscape project.
What Our Clients Say
Trusted by Homeowners Across SMA
Living part-time in SMA means I can't always be there to manage things. SMA Home Services is my eyes and hands on the ground. Gustavo is responsive, honest about costs, and sends me photos of everything. Peace of mind? Absolutely.
Arq. Gustavo Jiménez has completed several projects in my home. Gustavo is prompt, attentive, and communicates clearly and often during the project. His team are a pleasure to work with as they are focused on all the details to make the project successful, are punctual, reliable and polite.
Frequently Asked
Gardens & Gardener Training FAQ
Can you train the gardener I already have?
Yes — that is the point of the service. We work alongside your gardener on your property, in Spanish, teaching pruning, watering, soil care, and pest management on your actual plants. You keep the person and the relationship; the work gets better.
Will my garden survive the dry season?
If it is planted for this climate, yes. We design around drought-tolerant and native species, group plants by water need, and install drip irrigation with zoned timers. A well-designed SMA garden looks alive in April without heavy watering.
How much water will the garden need?
Far less than a conventional lawn-and-annuals garden — often a fraction. The savings come from plant choice, drip irrigation instead of hoses or sprinklers, mulching to hold moisture, and deep, spaced watering rather than daily sprinkling.
Do you do rooftop and terrace gardens?
Yes, and we engineer them properly. Rooftops mean load, drainage, waterproofing, and wind — we coordinate the garden with our terrace and waterproofing team so planters do not become leaks later.
Can you look after the garden while I am out of the country?
Yes. We set up a maintenance plan with scheduled visits and send photo reports, the same way we manage other work for absentee owners. Your gardener can stay in place with our supervision.
Native plants only, or can I have the garden I want?
Both. Native and adapted plants form the backbone because they thrive here, but there is room for what you love — roses, citrus, herbs, flowering vines. We place them where they can actually succeed, and tell you honestly when something won't.
What does a garden design cost?
It depends on the size of the property, the amount of hardscape and irrigation, and the planting. You receive an itemized written quote in English before anything starts — design, materials, labor, and irrigation listed separately.
Can you fix a garden that is already struggling?
Usually, yes. We start with a site and soil visit to find the real cause — over-watering, bad pruning, poor drainage, wrong plant in the wrong place — and often the fix is corrective care and training rather than replanting everything.
Do you handle fountains, paths, and stonework?
Yes. Cantera paths, stone planters, walls, ironwork trellises, and fountains are built by the same trades that handle our architecture projects, so the hardscape and planting are designed together.
How long does the training take?
Typically a series of on-site sessions over several weeks, matched to the season, plus follow-up visits. Technique needs repetition to stick, so we return rather than doing one long day and disappearing.
A Garden That Lasts
Let's design a garden that thrives here.
Landscape design, irrigation, and gardener training by an architect-led, bilingual team in San Miguel de Allende. Reach us on WhatsApp.
