Not all gardens are lush and green this time of year. Road Trips Gardeners whose own back yards are arid might want to swing by the Borrego Desert Nature Center, 652 Palm Canyon Drive, Borrego Springs, California, on their next trip to the Southwest.

Although the nature center is the heart of activities (and location of a great gift shop), the entire area covered by the work of the Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Association is much larger.

In the north, there’s the high country of the Santa Rosa Mountains and the canyons below. Central, there’s the community of Borrego Springs, with cooler mountains and valleys to the west and badlands scenery to the east. The south is rough country, perfect for wildflowers and birds if you’ve got a four-wheel-drive vehicle to travel east of County Road S-2.

The Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Association is a non-profit corporation dedicated to educational and interpretive activities and to the promotion of historical and scientific endeavors pertinent to the deserts of the Southwest.

(Photo of a desert sunflower courtesy of Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Association)