Desert Botanical Garden Opened Super Bloom Exhibit

The exhibit features 21 large-scale floral installations integrated into the garden through lidar-based digital design.

Updated on Oct. 10, 2026 in Botany

A large metallic floral sculpture sits among desert cacti under bright morning sun in a botanical garden, professional editorial photograph. — The Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix has unveiled 'Super Bloom,' an art exhibition featuring 21 large-scale floral installations created through digital lidar modeling. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

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The Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix has opened its Super Bloom art exhibit, featuring more than 21 larger-than-life floral installations. The exhibition is currently open to the public and runs through May 31, 2027.

Why it matters

By blending art with environmental infrastructure, the installation aims to bridge the gap between human visitors and the botanical landscape. The project leverages digital modeling to map existing garden spaces, including glass houses, for site-specific display.

Artists utilized lidar—a remote sensing method that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure distances—to create 3D scans of the garden environment. These scans allowed for the production of 3D models that ensure the 21 installations fit precisely within existing infrastructure.

The players

Desert Botanical Garden

A Phoenix-based institution focused on the study and exhibition of arid-land plants and desert ecology.

Graphic Rewilding

An artistic duo composed of Lee Baker and Catherine Borowski, known for creating large-scale, digitally-integrated art installations.

The details

The artwork was developed by the Graphic Rewilding duo, Lee Baker and Catherine Borowski. By mapping the garden's physical geometry through lidar, the creators designed pieces that interact directly with the garden's existing structures, such as its glass houses. This digital workflow allows for large-scale creative interventions that are spatially aware of the horticultural context.

October 9, 2026: The Super Bloom exhibit opened to the public.
May 31, 2027: The exhibit concludes its run at the garden.

The Tech Race

The use of lidar scanning in art curation marks a departure from traditional manual layout methods, allowing for greater precision in complex botanical environments. This project follows the trend of integrating high-resolution digital mapping to optimize the placement and scale of public installations.

Visitors can access the exhibit through standard admission, priced at $34.95 for adults and $16.95 for youth. The installations are accessible throughout the garden grounds and glass houses until the final day of the exhibition in late May.

The takeaway

The integration of lidar modeling into the design phase demonstrates how precision technology can adapt art to complex botanical spaces. Residents interested in the final display can visit the exhibit any day through May 31, 2027.