Native Plants of the Coachella Valley

• The valley’s native vegetation changes with water, soil, and elevation, from creosote flats to palm oases and mountain forests.
• Late winter and spring offer the broadest opportunities for desert flowers, with later blooms at higher elevations and occasional summer or fall responses to rain.
• Cahuilla plant knowledge encompasses food, shelter, weaving, tools, medicine, and relationships with particular places.
• Learning a few familiar species makes local trails more rewarding in every season.

A stand of yellow flowers beside a trail. A cottonwood turning gold against a rocky mountain. A palm grove appearing where the surrounding ground looks impossibly dry. The Coachella Valley becomes easier to understand when you begin recognizing its plants.

Each one gives you information. A creosote bush belongs to a landscape that can endure long dry spells. A native palm grove points to dependable moisture. An ocotillo covered in fresh leaves records a recent change in conditions. Together, these plants reveal a desert with distinct habitats and seasonal rhythms.

They also connect the landscape to Cahuilla history and continuing cultural life. Plants supplied the ingredients for meals, the fibers for cordage, and the materials for homes and baskets. Understanding that relationship adds another dimension to a walk through the valley.

This guide introduces some of the region’s most useful plants to recognize, explains when to look for flowers, and connects those species with places you can visit. The photographs come from Desert Oasis Insider’s Flora collection.

Reading the landscape

The Coachella Valley lies in the Colorado Desert, the California portion of the larger Sonoran Desert. Nearby Joshua Tree National Park spans a transition into the Mojave Desert, while the San Jacinto and Santa Rosa mountains add cooler habitats above the valley. A plant native to those mountains may have very different needs from one growing naturally near Indio. [1] [2]

Native is a geographic relationship. A species can be native to California without being native to the Coachella Valley floor. Likewise, a plant that thrives in an irrigated desert garden may come from another continent. Bougainvillea, golden barrel cactus, and blue agave appear in our broader Flora collection, but they should not be used to represent the valley’s native vegetation.

Habitat overview: BLM Coachella Valley Preserve, Indian Canyons, and National Park Service plant communities.

Water can be hidden. In the Indio Hills, faults influence where groundwater reaches the surface, helping sustain palm oases. Elsewhere, moving sand creates habitat for highly specialized species. A patch that appears empty between shrubs may contain a seed bank waiting for suitable conditions. [3] [27]

The blooming seasons

The desert does not follow a dependable appointment calendar. Rainfall timing, temperature, wind, and elevation influence both the flowers you see and how long they last. A hillside can be colorful one year and quiet the next. Large wildflower displays require favorable conditions; they are not an annual guarantee. [27]

Explore the seasons · 8 photographed plants

What’s blooming when?

Choose a month and a habitat to discover native plants to look for in the Coachella Valley and nearby mountains.

Typical bloom windows, not live sightings. Rainfall, temperature and elevation change the timing and abundance each year. Photos show the plant and may have been taken outside its flowering season.

Viewing suggestions identify places and habitat to explore; they are not confirmed sightings. Check the linked park or trail page for access and current conditions before visiting.

How to read this guide

This is a selection from our photo collection, not a complete inventory of local flora. “Typical window” means a month within the flowering season used by this guide, not a guarantee that flowers are present. “Rain-dependent possibility” marks an occasional bloom outside the main spring display.

Month ranges summarize the botanical sources linked on each card. Late-summer and fall mountain windows are approximate; snowmelt, elevation and local conditions can shift them. Habitat groups describe suggested viewing areas, not the plant’s entire geographic range. A month with no matches means no matches among these eight plants.

Photographs: Desert Oasis Insider. Explore the full flora photo collection.

Close

Photograph from the Desert Oasis Insider flora collection.

These are broad observation windows, not a bloom forecast. Sources: NPS wildflower guidance, ocotillo, and Joshua trees.

Flowers and leaves follow different signals

Ocotillo is a particularly good plant to revisit. Rain can prompt leaves along its canes, and dry conditions can leave those same canes bare again. Its familiar red-orange flower clusters are most often associated with spring, especially March through May. A fresh flush of leaves does not automatically mean a matching flush of flowers. [5]

Creosote can also flower beyond a narrow spring window. Meanwhile, a cactus flower is only one stage of a longer cycle that includes pollination, fruit, and seed. Watching one plant over several visits teaches more than checking whether the entire desert is “in bloom.” [6] [7]

Color does not always mean flowers

Autumn cottonwood foliage can be as striking as a spring bloom. Dry seed heads, pale branches, and the changing shadows inside a palm grove offer other reasons to look closely. Pines belong in the regional flora too, even though they reproduce with cones rather than showy flowers. The desert’s botanical year is much larger than its wildflower season.

Native plants to recognize

You do not need to memorize an entire flora to begin. Start with a few plants whose shapes remain recognizable when they are not flowering. Add the smaller annuals and look-alike species as you gain experience.

The small wildflowers between the shrubs

Some of the most colorful desert plants spend much of their lives out of sight. Annuals can persist as seeds, then grow, flower, and produce a new generation during favorable conditions. In the lower desert around Joshua Tree’s southern entrance and Cottonwood, examples include yellow desert gold, Arizona lupine, and blue desert Canterbury bells. Which ones appear depends on the site and the year. [27] [4]

Creosote bush

Larrea tridentata

Creosote is one of the defining shrubs of the low desert. Look for small, resinous leaves, yellow flowers, and fuzzy pale fruits. Its fragrance is strongly associated with rain in the desert. Open flats and the lower-elevation landscapes around the valley are good places to learn its branching form.

A mature shrub also supplies shade and shelter for other desert life. Its ordinary appearance can conceal a long history: creosote grows slowly, and established plants can be difficult to replace after disturbance. [6]

Brittlebush

Encelia farinosa

Brittlebush often provides the yellow punctuation on rocky desert slopes. Its pale, soft-looking foliage forms a rounded mound, with daisy-like flower heads held above it. The leaves offer a useful identification clue even when the plant is between flowering periods.

Compare a well-watered plant in a garden with one enduring a dry hillside. The same species can look very different under different conditions. Your first impression of a plant should be a starting point, not the whole identification. [8] Explore our brittlebush photographs.

Desert lavender and chuparosa

Condea emoryi and Justicia californica

Desert lavender combines aromatic, silvery foliage with small purple flowers. Older references call it Hyptis emoryi. It is a familiar component of desert washes and slopes, including the wider Coachella Valley Preserve landscape. [9] [3]

Chuparosa has tubular flowers, usually red, on an open branching shrub. Its common name “hummingbird bush” is useful, but common names can refer to different plants sold in nurseries. The botanical name helps distinguish this local desert species from unrelated ornamentals. Look for it in desert washes and rocky terrain. [10]

Ocotillo

Fouquieria splendens

Ocotillo’s tall, spiny canes rise from a common base. In spring, flower clusters can turn their tips red. After rain, small leaves may cover stems that previously looked bare. Ocotillo is not a cactus, despite its spines and desert setting.

The Cottonwood and Pinto Basin areas of Joshua Tree National Park are useful places to see it in its Colorado Desert habitat. Watch from a little distance for hummingbirds visiting the flowers. [5]

Barrel cacti and chollas

Barrels and branching chollas illustrate a different way to live with drought: store moisture in substantial stems and limit water loss. Cacti use specialized physiology that allows gas exchange largely at night. Their spines also affect exposure and provide protection.

California barrel cactus, Ferocactus cylindraceus, is a native species of this desert region. Teddy-bear cholla, Cylindropuntia bigelovii, is another recognizable native, especially in parts of Joshua Tree. Several other chollas occur regionally, so “jumping cholla” is not a precise species identification.

Leave room around the plants and fallen segments. Chollas do not jump, but detached joints can make close approaches unpleasant. Enjoy the changing light on their spines from the trail. [7]

Palo verde and smoke tree

These trees help explain why a dry wash can look different from the ground beside it. Palo verdes are recognizable by green bark and yellow flowers. Native blue palo verde is Parkinsonia florida; cultivated landscapes also contain other palo verde species and hybrids.

Smoke tree, Psorothamnus spinosus, has a pale, finely branched silhouette that can appear almost cloudlike at a distance. It belongs to the native vegetation of the Coachella Valley Preserve. Learning these trees makes the wash itself easier to recognize as habitat. [1] [3]

Mesquite

Mesquite deserves a place near the center of the valley’s plant story. Honey mesquite produces elongated pods; screwbean mesquite has tightly coiled ones. Both appear in Agua Caliente accounts of traditional food gathering.

Older botanical references often list the local western honey mesquite as Prosopis glandulosa var. torreyana; newer treatments may use Neltuma. For a first encounter, start with the compound leaves, branching canopy, and pod shape. Then connect that living tree to its role in Cahuilla food and material culture. [11] Explore our honey mesquite profile.

California fan palm and cottonwood

The native California fan palm, Washingtonia filifera, forms the palm oases that are such a distinctive part of this region. Its broad fan-shaped leaves and, where retained, skirt of old fronds create a recognizable silhouette. A wild grove depends on suitable water conditions; palms do not simply grow anywhere in the desert. [12]

Cottonwoods and willows add another layer beside streams. In Andreas Canyon, you can compare these broadleaf trees with palms and the drier vegetation nearby. That short transition is a useful outdoor lesson in how water shapes plant communities. [13]

Yucca and the plants above the valley

Mojave yucca, Yucca schidigera, has long, rigid leaves with conspicuous fibers. Joshua tree, Yucca brevifolia, is another yucca, associated especially with the higher Mojave Desert. Joshua trees are part of the broader region’s flora, rather than characteristic trees of the hot Coachella Valley floor. Their flowers depend on specialized yucca moth pollination. [14]

Farther into the surrounding mountains, pinyon woodlands, oaks, and higher conifer forests extend the region’s plant story. Keep these habitats distinct when identifying plants or planning a garden: a mountain native is not automatically suited to a low-desert yard. [1] [15]

Cahuilla knowledge and plant traditions

The Coachella Valley is Cahuilla homeland. Cahuilla communities continue to live here, and plant knowledge remains part of cultural teaching and practice. Uses differed among communities, families, habitats, and periods; one list cannot represent every Cahuilla person’s knowledge.

A foundational guide is Temalpakh: Cahuilla Indian Knowledge and Usage of Plants, by Katherine Siva Saubel and Lowell John Bean. Malki Museum’s Temalpakh Garden presents plants connected with food, medicine, clothing, housing, tools, and arts. Saubel’s knowledge included teaching received from her mother, a Cahuilla medicine woman. [16]

Plants, people & place

Plants in Cahuilla life

Follow a plant from food to shelter, fiber work, tools or traditional care. Choose a category, then use the links on a card to discover that plant’s other documented roles.

Cahuilla communities continue to teach and practice plant knowledge. These selected public accounts describe particular traditions; uses vary among communities, families and periods.

Nine plants, many relationships

Each account below links to its tribal or museum source.

View image

Honey mesquite

Food · Seedpods → food and storage

Agua Caliente accounts describe summer pods ground into meal, with surplus stored for later seasons. Mesquite connected a brief harvest with food throughout the year.

Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla IndiansNature Made · 2020 (PDF)

Homes · Wood → building material

The Tribe’s account identifies mesquite as a building material as well as a food source. The same tree contributed to both a dwelling and its household’s food supply.

Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla IndiansNature Made · 2020 (PDF)

Tools · Thorns → sewing needles

Agua Caliente’s published account records mesquite thorns used as sewing needles. A small part of a food tree could also serve a precise everyday task.

Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla IndiansNature Made · 2020 (PDF)

View image

California fan palm

Food · Fruit → fresh and stored food

The Tribe describes palm fruit eaten fresh or dried for storage and later processing. Oasis palms offered a food resource beyond their shade and shelter.

Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla IndiansThe Cahuilla Kitchen · 2016–2017 (PDF)

Homes · Fronds → shelter

Agua Caliente’s illustrated kish account shows palm fronds covering a wooden framework. The account connects this practical shelter with the palm’s place in the Tribe’s own story of Moul.

Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla IndiansConstructing a Kish · 2019–2020 (PDF)

Desert agave

Food · Hearts → roasted food

Malki Museum describes agave hearts cooked in a traditional pit and shares this food tradition through its Agave Roast program. Learning continues through community gathering and teaching.

Malki MuseumAgave Roast

Weaving · Leaf fibers → cordage and nets

Agua Caliente’s food-history account also records agave fibers made into string, nets and footwear. The plant provided useful fibers as well as food.

Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla IndiansThe Cahuilla Kitchen · 2016–2017 (PDF)

Tools · Fiber nets → hunting equipment

The Tribe describes agave-fiber nets used in rabbit hunts. Making the net brought plant knowledge and fiber work into another part of food gathering.

Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla IndiansThe Cahuilla Kitchen · 2016–2017 (PDF)

Arrowweed

Homes · Flexible stems → a curved framework

In Agua Caliente’s kish illustration, flexible arrowweed forms the curved wooden frame, tied together with plant-fiber rope. Palm fronds cover it: different plants perform complementary structural jobs.

Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla IndiansConstructing a Kish · 2019–2020 (PDF)

Deergrass

Weaving · Stems → a basket’s foundation

Palm Springs Art Museum identifies a deergrass bundle foundation in Dolores Saneva Patencio’s storage basket, made around 1910. The material supports the basket beneath its visible stitching.

Palm Springs Art MuseumDolores Patencio: Large Olla Storage Basket

Basket rush (juncus)

Weaving · Rush → stitching and color

The museum records natural and dyed juncus in Patencio’s basket. Rush and sumac work over the deergrass foundation, combining structural skill with the artist’s design.

Palm Springs Art MuseumDolores Patencio: Large Olla Storage Basket

Sumac

Weaving · Plant material → basket stitching

Sumac is another material documented in the same circa-1910 basket. This particular work makes the relationship among sumac, juncus and deergrass visible through one named artist’s craft.

Palm Springs Art MuseumDolores Patencio: Large Olla Storage Basket

Willows

Tools · Branches → gathering tools

Tribal Ranger Ralph Rodriguez describes willow sticks used in mesquite gathering. The same Agua Caliente account records notched willow poles for reaching palm fruit—one plant helping people gather another.

Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla IndiansThe Cahuilla Kitchen · 2016–2017 (PDF)

View image

Creosote bush

Tools · Insect-produced lac → tool adhesive

Texas Beyond History records Cahuilla use of lac to secure tool parts to their handles. The material comes from scale insects living on creosote, rather than from the shrub’s own resin.

Texas Beyond History · UT Austin’s virtual museumCreosotebush · citing Bean & Saubel’s Temalpakh

Medicine · Leaves → traditional care

Citing Bean and Saubel’s Temalpakh, the virtual museum documents Cahuilla use of creosote in care for colds and skin wounds. These records describe historical practice; they do not establish a safe or effective treatment.

Texas Beyond History · UT Austin’s virtual museumCreosotebush · citing Bean & Saubel’s Temalpakh

Keep learning from the people and institutions who carry this knowledge.

Malki Museum’s Temalpakh Garden connects living plants with the work of Katherine Siva Saubel and Lowell John Bean. Agua Caliente Cultural Museum presents the Tribe’s own history and culture.

Temalpakh Garden Agua Caliente Cultural Museum

Images: Desert Oasis Insider flora collection. Category labels organize these accounts; they are not a complete inventory of Cahuilla knowledge. This is cultural education, not a gathering or treatment guide.

Close

Desert Oasis Insider flora collection

Food followed the landscape and the season

Mesquite pods were an important food resource. Agua Caliente’s account describes grinding them into meal and storing surplus for later use. The same plant also supplied firewood, construction material, and thorns that could serve as sewing needles. One tree contributed to several areas of daily life. [17]

California fan palm fruit offered another food. The small fruits could be eaten fresh or dried for storage and later processing. Yucca blossoms and other seasonal plant foods also appear in the Tribe’s published account. Gathering required knowledge of when a useful part was ready, not simply whether a plant was present. [11]

Desert agave, Agave deserti, was a substantial food plant. Malki Museum describes the traditional preparation of agave hearts in a roasting pit and continues to teach through its Agave Roast program. This is a particular native plant tradition, not a reason to treat every ornamental agave as interchangeable. [18]

Higher elevations added foods unavailable on the hottest flats. Acorns from oak stands were gathered, ground, and leached to remove bitter tannins. Pinyon nuts supplied another seasonal resource. Stored foods and movement between useful habitats helped connect the valley and mountains into a broader food landscape. [17] [11]

Plants became homes and everyday materials

Agua Caliente’s illustrated account of a traditional kish, or home, describes a curved framework using flexible arrowweed, tied with plant-fiber rope and covered with palm fronds. The plants of the surrounding canyons became the structure and covering of a dwelling. The same account explains the palm’s place in the Tribe’s story of Moul, connecting its practical uses with spiritual meaning. [19]

Agave fibers also supplied material for cordage, nets, and footwear. These uses remind us to look beyond flowers and fruit. A tough leaf, straight stem, or flexible branch can be the most valuable part of a plant for a particular task. [11]

Basketry joined different plants through skilled work

Cahuilla basketry provides a particularly clear example of botanical knowledge expressed through craftsmanship. Palomar College’s account, drawing on American Indian Studies scholar Deborah Dozier, describes deergrass stems used in foundation bundles, with prepared strips of basket rush or sumac wrapped around them.

The finished basket may hide the deergrass entirely. What the viewer sees is the result of knowing which plants to gather, how to prepare their different parts, and how those materials behave together. A basket is therefore also a record of relationships with several habitats. [20]

Medicine and care carried their own knowledge

Cahuilla plant traditions also include medicinal uses. Creosote is one documented example, while Malki Museum’s garden introduces the much broader subject. These accounts describe cultural practice; they are not instructions for self-treatment or evidence that every historical preparation is safe or effective. [6] [16]

The best next step is to learn through tribal institutions, public programs, and knowledgeable educators. Agua Caliente Cultural Museum offers interpretation rooted in the Tribe’s own history, while Malki Museum connects written documentation with a living plant collection. [21] [16]

Plant knowledge also included stewardship. The National Park Service describes historical Cahuilla practices of planting palm seeds in suitable places and using fire to manage groves. These were cultural landscapes shaped by sustained relationships with useful plants and their habitats. [12]

Where to explore today

Choose a place according to what you want to understand. A labeled garden helps with identification; a native oasis shows relationships among plants, water, and wildlife. Use the official links below for current access, trail conditions, and seasonal restrictions.

Indian Canyons in Palm Springs

Look for: California fan palms, cottonwoods, willows, and the change from moist canyon vegetation to dry slopes. Palm Canyon and Andreas Canyon make the relationship between water and plants especially visible. These are culturally significant lands of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians; follow the Tribe’s visitor rules and interpretation. Plan a visit to Indian Canyons.

The national monument visitor center near Palm Desert

Look for: labeled Colorado Desert native plants at the Ed Hastey Garden Trail. BLM describes an accessible concrete route with plant labels in English, Spanish, and Cahuilla. It is a useful introduction before exploring the wider Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument. The Randall Henderson Trail provides another nearby setting for observing desert vegetation. Explore the visitor center and monument.

The Coachella Valley Preserve system

Look for: palm-oasis habitat and the transition into creosote scrub and desert sand. The wider preserve system contains lands with different owners and access rules. Check the manager’s current information for the specific area you intend to visit. The Coachella Valley National Wildlife Refuge itself is closed to the public; its protected dunes should not be treated as a hiking destination. BLM preserve information and USFWS refuge information.

Whitewater Preserve

Look for: the contrast between a river corridor and surrounding arid terrain. The Wildlands Conservancy protects a stretch of the year-round Whitewater River and associated riparian habitat. It is a useful place to connect the presence of water with a different plant community. Plan a visit to Whitewater Preserve.

Joshua Tree National Park

Look for: Colorado Desert plants around Cottonwood and Pinto Basin, then Joshua trees and other upland vegetation farther into the park. This regional day trip lets you compare habitats rather than expecting every desert plant to grow together. Consult the park’s bloom information and conditions before choosing a route. Check the park’s wildflower guidance.

Gardens and cultural institutions

Look for: plant labels and interpretation at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens in Palm Desert, cultural context at Agua Caliente Cultural Museum in Palm Springs, and plants used in Cahuilla daily life at Malki Museum’s Temalpakh Garden on the Morongo Reservation near Banning. The Living Desert includes plants from multiple desert regions, so use labels to distinguish local natives from other collections. The Living Desert · Agua Caliente Cultural Museum · Temalpakh Garden.

The San Jacinto high country

Look for: the shift into mountain forest, a different setting from the valley below. Mount San Jacinto State Park can be approached from the Idyllwild side or through the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. Check weather, permits, and trail conditions; the higher country has its own seasonal constraints. Explore Mount San Jacinto State Park.

Protecting the living landscape

A native plant survives as part of a functioning habitat. Protecting a palm grove includes protecting its water. Conserving a dune plant includes retaining the conditions that create and maintain sand habitat. Keeping a cactus alive includes leaving room for the slower processes of growth and reproduction.

Some plants have very limited habitat. The Coachella Valley milkvetch is an endangered plant associated with the valley’s dunes. The national wildlife refuge protects habitat for it and other desert species, illustrating why areas that seem sparsely vegetated can deserve substantial protection. [22]

Introduced plants can also change what grows. UC Riverside research in the Coachella Valley found that dense Sahara mustard can severely reduce native annual plants. A green or yellow roadside is not necessarily a sign that native wildflowers are doing well. Elsewhere in the desert, invasive grasses can increase fire risk in vegetation poorly equipped to recover from frequent burns. [23] [1]

A more attentive way to visit

Stay on established routes, photograph plants without collecting them, and leave fruits, flowers, and seeds in place. Avoid trampling the apparently bare ground beside a display. Follow closures, and give wildlife space around water sources. Cultural uses described in this guide do not give visitors permission to harvest on tribal lands, preserves, or in parks. [27] [13]

For identification, take one photograph of the entire plant and another of a leaf, flower, fruit, or stem detail. Record the date, habitat, and approximate elevation. These simple observations help distinguish similar species and make a repeat visit more informative.

Bring the lesson home

A garden can support native plants too. Begin with species suited to your actual location, available space, drainage, and water conditions. A low-desert native garden should not be assembled from a generic list of everything native to California. Buy nursery-propagated plants and use local native-plant guidance when choosing species. The California Native Plant Society offers resources for matching plants to a site and supporting wildlife. [24]

On your next walk, choose just one plant to follow. Notice where it grows, what is visiting it, and what changes when you return. Over time, the valley becomes a landscape of familiar living things, each with its own season and story.

Frequently asked questions

When is the best time to see native flowers?

Late winter through spring is a useful general window for the valley and lower foothills. Higher elevations often flower later. Rainfall and temperature determine the actual display, so check current observations before planning a trip. [4]

Are all of the valley’s palm trees native?

No. California fan palm is native, but the valley’s streets and gardens also contain introduced palms, including cultivated date palms. Native palm oases tell a different ecological story from irrigated ornamental plantings. [12]

Is ocotillo a cactus?

No. Ocotillo belongs to a different plant family. Its long spiny canes, rain-responsive leaves, and red spring flowers make it one of the easier desert plants to recognize once you know what to look for. [5]

Can I collect the plants or foods described here?

Do not assume so. Land ownership, site rules, identification, and preparation all matter. Learn about traditional foods through authorized educational programs, and observe native plants without harvesting them during ordinary park and preserve visits. Malki Museum’s Agave Roast program offers one example of organized cultural learning.

Where should a beginner start?

The national monument visitor center’s Ed Hastey Garden Trail is a useful starting point because the native plants are labeled. Indian Canyons adds the experience of an oasis landscape, while the museums deepen the cultural context. Visitor center information.

Sources and further reading

Botanical and visitor information reviewed September 16, 2026. Bloom windows are approximate. Consult the relevant land manager for current access. Photographs are drawn from Desert Oasis Insider’s Flora collection; a collection image is not, by itself, proof that a plant is growing wild or is native at that exact location.

1. National Park Service — Plants of Joshua Tree National Park. Desert transitions, plant communities, and threats.
2. BLM — Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument. Visitor center, native garden, and interpretation.
3. BLM — Coachella Valley Preserve. Dunes, oases, and native vegetation.
4. National Park Service — Wildflower Viewing. Seasonal timing, elevation, rainfall, and viewing practices.
5. National Park Service — Ocotillo.
6. National Park Service — Creosote Bush.
7. National Park Service — Cacti and Desert Succulents.
8. California Native Plant Society Calscape — Brittlebush.
9. California Native Plant Society Calscape — Desert Lavender.
10. Jepson eFlora — Justicia californica.
11. Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians — The Cahuilla Kitchen. Me Yah Whae, Fall/Winter 2016–2017.
12. National Park Service — Fan Palm Oases.
13. Agua Caliente Indian Canyons — Palm, Andreas, and Murray canyons.
14. National Park Service — Joshua Trees.
15. California State Parks — Mount San Jacinto State Park.
16. Malki Museum — Temalpakh Garden. Introduces the work of Katherine Siva Saubel and Lowell John Bean.
17. Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians — Nature Made. Me Yah Whae, Spring/Summer 2020.
18. Malki Museum — Agave Roast.
19. Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians — Constructing a Kish. Me Yah Whae, Fall/Winter 2019–2020.
20. Palomar College Arboretum — Deergrass and Cahuilla Basketry.
21. Agua Caliente Cultural Museum.
22. US Fish and Wildlife Service — Coachella Valley National Wildlife Refuge. Species protection and public-access status.
23. UC Riverside Center for Invasive Species Research — Sahara Mustard.
24. California Native Plant Society — Gardening and Horticulture.
25. The Wildlands Conservancy — Whitewater Preserve.
26. The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens — Animals and Gardens.
27. National Park Service — Death Valley Wildflowers. General desert annual life cycles and the influence of rain, warmth, and wind; not a Coachella Valley bloom forecast.