All that talk of scrub and terragen had me whip out my old copy and make some more stuff.
Here is what a desert may look like?
Any feedback?
(http://e.domaindlx.com/jenred2/sunset.jpg)
Too flat and the ground isn't gritty enough. In the desert nothing really stops the wind, except dunes (at which point the wind blows sand off it and along). It just needs to look more hilly and uneven and wind-blown.
Well maybe the arid wastes, barren wastelands, or dusty fields. They are described as relatively flat.
It depends on what sort of desert you're imagining. The deep red desert would be like Carnage described, I think. Imagine the Sahara.
But other areas might be more like Jenred's terragen. Imagine the deserts of the American Southwest or the deep outback of Australia.