Sunnylands, known for its tree-lined golf course and mature olive groves, was not always the green landscape it is today. The transformation of 200 acres of desert into an oasis began in the mid-1960s when founders Walter and Leonore Annenberg, along with their landscape architects, carefully selected trees to reshape the land.
As Sunnylands Center & Gardens prepares to open its 15th season on September 10, a new photographic exhibition titled “Curating Canopy: Trees at Sunnylands” will showcase the estate’s trees and their history. The exhibition features images by London-based photographer David Loftus, who has been photographing at Sunnylands since 2022. The accompanying catalog provides botanical insights from Michaeleen Gallagher, Director of Sunnylands Center & Gardens.
Loftus’s photographs focus on details such as bark patterns, leaf shapes, seed pods, and blooms. Gallagher writes in the catalog: “This exhibition invites you to see trees as more than landscape features. Here, they are art—each with its own sculptural form and seasonal expression. They are gifts—given by friends, by past caretakers, by those who envisioned a future of shade, growth, and beauty … But above all, they are living organisms, evolving with time and climate, challenging us to think deeply about what it means to care for a place with both reverence and responsibility.”
Gallagher’s research identified tamarisk, eucalyptus, and olive as key species that helped transform the desert into what it is today. These trees played roles in blocking sand or shaping the estate’s contours.
The catalog also highlights notable trees such as the “Nixon Magnolia” and “Eisenhower Palms,” which were either gifted or inspired by U.S. presidents. It discusses current tree management practices on the property and how pillar species were chosen for areas opened in 2012.
The “Curating Canopy” exhibition will run from September 10, 2025 through June 6, 2027 at Sunnylands Center & Gardens (37977 Bob Hope Drive in Rancho Mirage). Admission is free Wednesday through Sunday from 8:30 am to 4 pm.
