When Leon left Palm Springs to study interior design in L.A., she never imagined she’d come back and join the landscaping business her father started 35 years ago. When a family emergency precipitated the move, she found it a perfect outlet for her creativity. “Design is crucial because of the water situation here,” says Leon, a single mother of a 6-year-old son and supporter of Friends of the Desert Mountains. “It’s our responsibility as designers to give desert landscaping a new face.”