“Close your eyes and picture “the desert,” and you are unlikely to conjure visions of vibrant wildflower fields, bubbling water features, or butterflies flitting beneath the canopy of lush shade trees. Yet one of the area’s most prominent properties — one that has been commended by the American Society of Landscape Architects for its sustainable design and ongoing water conservation efforts — embraces this seemingly implausible, more verdant, side of our valley.
Tucked behind pink walls in Rancho Mirage, Sunnylands Center & Gardens houses more than 53,000 arid-adapted plants, representing about 70 species and the entire Pantone colorway. The 9-acre garden, designed by the Office of James Burnett (a team that’s also responsible for major public parks in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Houston), takes inspiration from the original estate owners’ prized collection of impressionist and postimpressionist paintings…”
