Visitor information:
The Mojave Desert Discovery Garden is open daily from sunrise to sunset.
Download a map of the garden. Plant identification markers display plant names in Serrano, English, Spanish, and scientific Latin.
Address:
Mojave Desert Land Trust, 60124 29 Palms Highway, Joshua Tree, California 92252
Telephone: 760-366-5440
Email: info@mdlt.org
For Spanish, please click here.
Accessibility:
There is one designated accessible parking spot closest to the garden. The garden paths are compacted dirt approximately 5 feet wide. Most of the garden features little to no inclines. There is an upper level which has an incline and slightly rougher terrain for wheelchair-users.
Garden rules:
1. Open daily from sunrise to sunset.
2. Stay on paths.
3. Leave no trace. Take out what you brought in.
4. Do not pick the flowers or damage plants.
5. Only trained service animals are allowed. No pets.
6. Do not feed or chase wildlife.
7. No unauthorized commercial or event photography.
Welcome to the Mojave Desert Discovery Garden!
About the garden:
The Mojave Desert is a land of extremes—it is the smallest, driest, and hottest of North America’s deserts, and yet it’s full of life. Situated between the Colorado Desert to the south and the Great Basin Desert to the north and east, the Mojave has a distinctive flora that includes the iconic Joshua tree and many other plants you will see in the garden.
Once an empty parking lot, the Mojave Desert Discovery Garden showcases the beauty and diversity of the Mojave Desert’s native plants and ecosystems. Themed gardens include an Ethnobotanical Garden, Palm Oasis, and pollinator gardens. Plant identification markers display plant names in Serrano, English, Spanish, and scientific Latin. The garden is open daily from sunrise to sunset.
We invite visitors to explore the garden and be inspired to embrace the beauty and diversity of the Mojave’s native flora and incorporate sustainable landscaping materials and techniques in their own gardens.
Thank you to the Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation, Mojave Water Agency, and the Stanley Smith Horticultural Trust, for making this project possible.
MDLT acknowledges that the land where this garden is sited is the ancestral and unceded territory of the Maara’yam, commonly referred to as the Serrano people. We honor their presence and recognize their contributions as the first stewards of this land. We acknowledge that the Cahuilla and Chemehuevi peoples, as well as European settlers, intersected with Serrano peoples in these spaces. Our histories and stories are intertwined here, and by sharing them in culturally appropriate ways, we hope to honor and celebrate our indigenous neighbors and partners.
Click the photo above for a text version of the map.