Desert-Wise Top Ten Tips
Our Top Ten Tips for Successful Living in the Morongo Basin
If you're a longtime desert resident, you probably understand that living in harmony with the desert environment creates an enviable quality of life. You may already be following all of these tips, but take a look in case there is something more you can do. If you are new to desert living, you may find some significant differences in day-to-day life than what you're used to. By following our Top Ten Tips for Desert-Wise Living, you will not only add to your enjoyment of desert life, but will help conserve its beauty and balance.
Save the Date for the next Landscape Tour: Sunday, April 27, 2025
We at MBCA are big believers in the idea that conservation begins at home. Every year we sponsor a highly-popular landscape tour to encourage locals to consider wildlife- and water-friendly gardens.
Part of successful desert-wise living is knowing what constitutes desert-wise. These values include landscaping that keeps in mind water and energy conservation, off-the-grid living, native and/or drought-tolerant plantings, and permaculture ideals.
- Some of our favorite native plants are featured in our Plant Spotlight, and on our Plant Spotlight page.
- Finding native or drought-tolerant plants can be challenging, but you've got to know where to look. Here is a listing of nurseries sourcing such plants. Note also that the Joshua Basin Water District has a native plant sale in the spring, as does the Mojave Desert Land Trust, in the spring and fall.
Check out our 20+ videos related to desert-wise gardening!
- Besides our great videos, another way to learn about desert-wise plants in the landscape, throughout the microclimates and elevations of the Morongo Basin, is to participate in our Desert-Wise Living Landscaping Tour, usually held in April.
- The tours for 2020 and 2021 were virtual due to COVID-19 - click the links to see the videos in the comfort of your own home. In 2022 and 2023 we held hybrid tours of videos and in-person sites. Playlist for 2023 Desert-Wise Living Landscaping Videos
- Find landscaping and irrigation plans, plant lists and more on our Resources page.
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Tour public demonstration gardens at the Joshua Basin Water District and other locales.
- Only grow the plants you want and avoid invasive plants.
- Save the Date for the next Landscape Tour: Sunday, April 27, 2025.
Photo by Laraine Turk
What is "desert-wise living"?
If you are a long-time desert resident, you probably understand that it's about how to live in harmony with the desert environment, providing an enviable quality of life. You may already be following all of our Top Ten Tips for Desert-Wise Living, but take a look in case there is something more you can do.
If you are a new to desert living, you may find some significant differences in day-to-day life than what you’re used to. By following our Top Ten Tips for Desert-Wise Living, you will not only add to your enjoyment of desert life, but will help conserve its beauty and balance. Examples of harmonious living range from using low-water native plants in the landscape to save water, to preserving our starry night skies with low-voltage lighting.
MBCA has been hosting programs under the banner of Desert-Wise Living since 2011.
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.
- Water-wise demonstration garden at 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).
Desert-Wise Public Gardens
Illustrations and pictures are all well and good, but sometimes it's best to see plants in a garden. That's what our Desert-Wise Landscaping Tours are for, offered each year in April. Fortunately, the rest of the year there are several public native plant gardens in the Morongo Basin.
The Joshua Basin Water District has a large demonstration garden showcasing different planting styles, such as Mediterranean. The garden is open to the public during business hours.
Photo courtesy of Joshua Basin Water District
The Twentynine Palms Water District also has a public demonstration garden.
Check out this guide to the Bighorn Water District's demonstration garden in Landers.
Here is a map and directions to the above locations and other hi-desert demonstration gardens, courtesy of Hi-Desert Water Agency & AWAC.
EBlast September 20, 2019
Join us on Saturday morning, September 28, for MBCA's Fall Desert-Wise Living Program.
Read more
REPORT on Desert-Wise Lecture Fall 2016
Moving Toward Community-Based Renewable Energy
On September 24, MBCA hosted a Desert-Wise Living Program focused on intersecting issues of water and energy and the need for community-level renewable energy solutions.
Eblast: August 29, 2016
- Altamira Gated Housing Project
- Joshua Tree Solar Farm
- Soda Mountain Solar Project
- Dollar General Store vs. Joshua Tree
- Homestead Valley & Pioneertown Community Plans
- MBCA Desert Wise Living fall lecture
Eblast: August 15, 2016
- Joshua Tree Solar Farm – video broadcast TOMORROW in JT
- Soda Mountain Solar – comment deadline 8/22/16
- MBCA Desert Wise Living fall lecture 9/24/16
- Joshua Tree Airport Solar Farm - Appeal Hearing decision
- Broadcast live via videoconference at the JT Burke Government Center tomorrow, Tuesday, August 16th, starting at 1:00PM
