Shields Date Garden

In 1924, Floyd and Bess Shields arrived in the California desert and began date farming. Besides selling products, they also offered educational presentations on date culture. Today, the Shields Date Garden continues these activities, growing dates without chemical fertilizers or pesticides and packing them without preservatives.

In the Shields Date Garden Store, a wide variety of date-related items are for sale. Among the most popular are assortments of Medjool Dates, Hydrated Deglet Noor Dates, Barhi Dates, Zahidi Dates, Brunettes Dates, and Date Coconut Confection Date Rolls. Chocolate covered dates and nut or fruit stuffed dates are available in gift boxes. Specialty items include bags of date sugar, date crystals, homemade date butter, and date bits. T-shirts, coffee mugs, plantings, and patio items are also sold.

Recently opened on the premises is the new Shields Date Garden Café. It serves a full menu for breakfast or lunch daily from 8am to 2pm. Unique items include Date Tamales, Date Shakes, a signature salad with dates included, and fruit plates and juices made only with locally grown produce.

Shields Date Garden is located at 80-225 U.S. Highway 111, Indio, California 92201-6599. Take the Indio Boulevard Exit off Redland Freeway (Interstate 10) and go south onto Jefferson Street for two miles. Take a left at Highway 111, and the Date Garden can be seen on the right. The hours of operation at the store are from 9am to 5pm daily.