Visit Center & Gardens

Admission and parking are free and tickets/reservations are not required. No pets. No smoking.

Sunnylands Center & Gardens first opened to the public in March 2012. Upon entering the 15-acre site, a winding driveway takes visitors through a desert art garden to the glass facade of Sunnylands Center. The spacious, contemporary building houses a rotating art exhibition, café, gift shop, and multimedia offerings that detail the history of Sunnylands and its founders, Walter and Leonore Annenberg.

Things to do

Play-noral
Play-hover
Presented by the Office of James Burnett | Landscape Architecture

A Painting Comes to Life

The landscape at Sunnylands Center & Gardens was designed by The Office of James Burnett, with horticultural consultant Mary Irish. Inspired by the Annenberg collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings, the gardens were designed to reflect the importance of these paintings to the Annenbergs, who bequeathed the collection to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1991.

Burnett’s signature designs are habitable and sensitive, with shade, quiet, and natural elements that appeal to the senses. Twin reflecting pools filled with river stones flank the rear windows of the Center and its patios. To the west, a labyrinth winds through rows of Wedelia (Sphagneticola trilobata), creating a contemplative and quiet space.

Plant Diversity

Over 70 species of native and arid-adapted plants from North and South America, Africa, and the Mediterranean are displayed in the nine-acre gardens.
70
species of native and arid-adapted plants
“We like desert plants for their beauty, sculptural habits, and color.”
– James Burnett