The National Monument to the Basque Sheepherder is located on a desert hillside north of downtown Reno. It can be seen from McCarren Boulevard, just west of Virginia Street. In keeping with the theme of the monument, which celebrates the lonely sheepherders who traversed the mountainsides of this region, the plantings are primarily native and drought-resistant.

Sage, desert shrubs, and decorative grasses surround the monument. Color and shade are provided by wild flowers and by Purple-Robe Locust trees, which thrive with little or no irrigation in this climate. Their relatively short height helps the trees complement the monument rather than compete with it.

Once established, the Great Basin landscape theme employed here is virtually maintenance-free. The plants thrive in the desert climate, living in partnership with the sagebrush and other flora of the desert. Over time, it appears that Nature, rather than Interpretive Gardens, chose to place these flowering trees and blooming plants near the monument.