Desert-Wise Landscape Tour Inspiration Contest Winners 2023
Congratulations to the winners of the Desert-Wise Landscape Tour Inspiration Contest!
In this year’s Contest, we asked Tour participants to submit their reactions to the Tour in either a short essay or a visual creation.
Winner of the essay category and a $200 gift certificate to Unique Nursery in Joshua Tree is Allie Irwin. Here is her essay, which captures so well the spirit of discovery, as well as lessons learned, that MBCA hopes to provide to Tour participants.
Winner of the visual creation submission is Corrina Paton, whose photograph below depicts a spot in Tour Host Valerie Davis's yard. She explains: Conserving Water through art ~ Proving you can still have vibrant colors and a fun and quirky landscape while reducing your water usage. Corrina wins a $200 gift certificate to Cactus Mart in Morongo Valley.
Watch for an announcement in early June about several new Virtual Tour Videos of additional Morongo Basin landscapes that offer exceptional beauty and creativity with low water use and native and drought-tolerant plants.
Conserving Water through art ~ Proving you can still have vibrant colors and a fun and quirky landscape while reducing your water usage……
Eblast March 1, 2022
- Flamingo 640 Glamping Project going before Planning Commission
- Wonder Inn Project update
- Spring is here and so are Invasive Plants!
- Rooftop Solar Update
- 2023 Desert Wise Living Landscape Tour
Eblast August 15, 2022
- Short Term Rental Survey
- Housing Element update
- Desert Wise Virtual Landscape videos released
Eblast July 20, 2022
- Desert Wise Virtual Landscape videos released
- Planning Commission to vote on Housing Element
- Industrial Scale Renewable Energy Threats to the Desert
Eblast June 1, 2022
- Fish and Game Commission to consider Joshua Tree Listing
- Protect Rooftop Solar!
- Comments due on San Bernardino County Housing Element
- Short Term Rental ordinance amendments
- Landscape Tour was a success
- Stagecoach Solar project put on hold
Eblast April 18, 2022
- Attend MBCA’s Landscape Tour Sunday April 24!
- Comments due on the Flamingo 640 Glamping Project
- Proposed Wonder Inn Hotel
- Short Term Rentals and the SB County Housing Element
- Is the Joshua Tree a Threatened Species?
Plant resources
- A detailed plant list from a mainly native garden in 29 Palms (PDF).
- Robin Kobaly's plant list for hi-desert gardens. Find helpful planting and other resources on her site as well.
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California Native Plant Society (CNPS)
We are lucky in California to have a thriving and helpful native plant society. (Check out the local Mojave chapter of CNPS). Also included in the resources they provide is one for gardeners, Calscape.Learn how to search for native plants in the Morongo Basin on Calscape:
- Cheyenne Bonnell's garden has been featured on our Landscape Tour. See it showcased on Fine Gardening's website.
- Check out the spectacularly landscaped Mojave Rock Ranch on Garden Design's website.
- Blogger Lisa Burford covers Mojave desert gardening on her site Mojave Garden.
- Check out Nisha Maxwell's landscape design site for dry areas (Mantis Planting)
- A Joshua Tree home showcasing its native plantings.
- A helpful brochure about native plants best for our area.
- Wonderful planting and irrigation designs from JBWD.
- Water-wise native desert plants brochure from the Summertree Institute.
- Another resource, customized for the high desert, is Plant Search by the Alliance for Water Conservation (AWAC).
EBlast February 1, 2021
- Light Trespass Ordinance to be Considered by County
- Video of MBCA Annual Meeting Available
- Virtual Landscape Tour
- Check the MBCA Calendar for Online Events
EBlast April 20, 2020
- Earth Day
- 50th Anniversary Commemorative book distribution
- Desert Wise Living Landscape Tour 2020 postponed
- MBCA and social media initiative
- Ruth Denison Environmental Scholarship: 2020 recipient
- OHV enforcement in the Basin: the Sheriff’s report
- Protecting our dark night sky
- Advancing protection for Joshua trees
- Mountain lions to be considered for protection
- Eagle Crest pumped storage update
- Morongo Basin health care capability vs COVID-19
