WATCH: Tumbleweeds turn family’s backyard oasis into massive mess

Tumbleweeds typically conjure up images of barren towns with shuttered buildings.

For a family from New Mexico, that stereotype could not be further from the truth.

Miquie and Christie Clower were looking for a new home with a big back yard for their kids, and thought they had found the ideal place in an Albuquerque suburb.

But after moving in, it became clear that their backyard oasis was just a mirage.

“It’s big enough to collect a lot of tumbleweeds,” Miquie said, describing how their perfect patio became a massive mess.

The frustration began after the dried vegetation began rolling in from a nearby field.

So many tumbleweeds inundated their yard, the City of Albuquerque had to come and take them away.

But according to the homeowners, every time the wind blows, so too do the tumbleweeds.

“It’s almost up to the roof now,” said Miquie, who planned an outdoor birthday for their daughter.

The couple has asked for the city to return and take away more of the dead weeds, with hopes they will be cleared before they’re forced to cancel the party.

Residents in Australia recently dealt with a similar invasion.

Homeowners in Wangratta struggled to carry out normal tasks after “hairy panic,” a form of tumbleweed, took over their community.

READ MORE: ‘Hairy panic’ weed overtaking Australian town

“Walked out the front door this morning to find a good six-metre spread of tumbleweed across the front of the house — again,” local resident Jason Perna told ABC Goulburn Murray.

“Two metres high by three metres in diameter that spreads right across the front of the house.”

“It makes it difficult to get the car out in the morning — if you can find it.”

In Albuquerque, tumbleweeds have also made it difficult for drivers.

In December, a wall more than two metres high blocked a road, forcing motorists to find detours.