Strange Garden

Strange Garden opens at the Desert Botanical Garden on October 22, the start of a run that goes through October 31. It's part of Super Bloom, a new immersive art experience by the collective Graphic Rewilding, founded by Catherine Borowski and Lee Baker. The two have been working together for thirteen years, and their partnership draws on Japanese ink painting, Dutch still life, and contemporary visionaries like Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Yayoi Kusama, and glass artists Brian Clarke and John Piper.

The installation is spread across twenty-one locations throughout the Garden. You'll find walk-through colored-glass houses and larger-than-life botanical illustrations that glow after dark, set among 50,000 plants by day and 1,000 Garden After Dark lights by night. It's a lot of ground to cover, so you'll be moving through the grounds rather than standing in one spot.

This is the latest in the Garden's long history of bringing art into the landscape. Over the last two decades, they've built a reputation as one of the country's premier destinations for art in nature, hosting outdoor gallery experiences with artists like Dale Chihuly, Bruce Munro, Philip Haas, and more recently, ScanLAB Projects. Super Bloom continues that tradition, mixing the botanical collection with large-scale installations.

There are two specific events to keep on your radar. The Strange Garden Spirit Walk Night is on October 22 from 6 PM to 9 PM, with tickets at $69.95 for members and $74.95 for general admission. Later, the Music in the Garden concert runs on October 30 from 6 PM to 9 PM, with members paying $37.95 and general admission $39.95. The rest of the exhibition runs from October 22 through October 31, with the Garden open from 7 AM to 10 PM.