A unique blend of plants offering unusual shapes and textures help contribute to the contemporary feel of the HGTV Dream Home landscape. The first rule of designing in a setting like this, says landscape designer Tom Holmes, is "don't mess up the view."

Holmes chose plants that will provide this dreamy landscape with year-round form. Here, colorful plantings surround the master bedroom. In the high-desert of Sandia Park, "greenery" in the winter depends on native conifers -- pines, junipers and cedars. Flowering specimens here include crabapple, hawthorne, cotoneaster, pussywillow and , a form of yucca whose lower leaves curve downward.

A contemporary art piece with a Southwest theme graces the yard of HGTV Dream Home 2010.

A rock monolith serves as an anchor and focal point. When viewed from inside the home, the rock acquires a pinkish hue, matching the pinks and purples of the mountains at sunset.