Our events are announced at least 2 weeks in advance to our email list subscribers. To join our email list, please contact aznpsphoenix@gmail.com.
Our activities are open to Chapter members as well as the general public, unless stated otherwise. If you’re interested in becoming a Chapter member, please view the Membership page. Yearly membership is just $30 for individuals, $15 for students, and $35 for families.
Summer Chapter Meeting – July or August (Date TBD)
Book Discussion: The Hidden Life of Trees
We’ll begin this virtual meeting with 10 minutes of networking and socializing, enabling participants to seek tips and recommendations from members on topics related to native plants. Next, we’ll share Chapter announcements.
Then, we’ll discuss the book The Hidden Life of Trees: What they Feel, How they Communicate by Peter Wohlleben. If you would like to discuss the book, please obtain a copy and read it prior to our meeting date.
The meeting date will be announced later this summer. Phoenix Chapter members will be invited to participate in a survey to help us determine the meeting time.
Additional Events
View the AZNPS Events Calendar to learn about upcoming events hosted by other Chapters throughout the state. Also, recordings of many presentations are available to watch on the AZNPS YouTube page.
Join our virtual community!
To stay up to date on our meetings and other activities, please join our email list.
Follow the AZNPS Phoenix Chapter’s Facebook page for more information about local native plants news, research, and events!
We also invite you to follow our Chapter on Instagram and use the hashtag #aznativeplants to help us raise awareness of Arizona’s amazing native plants!
Seeking native plants to use in landscaping?
Native Landscaping Plants
If you would like to learn which plants are native to our area, we invite you to view our Chapter’s List of Recommended Native Landscaping Plants (draft version). It highlights plants that are: 1) native to the Phoenix metro area, 2) beneficial to wildlife, 3) low-water-use, 4) relatively easy to care for, and 5) generally available at local nurseries or seed suppliers.
We’ve compiled a list of metro Phoenix nurseries that generally offer a selection of native plants. Some have more variety than others, and inventory changes frequently or may be seasonal. So, it is best to inquire with a few nurseries by phone or email to determine which one suits your needs. Due to precautionary measures currently in place, please contact a nursery directly to determine if they have special operating hours or procedures.
In addition, several organizations hold desert plant sale fundraisers in the Spring and Fall. We’ll update this announcement when local native plant sales take place.
Wildflower Seeds
Monsoon season and fall are terrific times to add wildflower seeds to your landscape, assuming it rains! For a wide variety of Arizona native plant seeds, we recommend the following sources:
Maricopa Native Seed Library – This new local project offers native seeds for free! Similar in format to other seed libraries, the public may obtain up to 3 seed packets per month. Available at several Maricopa Community Colleges libraries.
Little Free “Seed” Library – A Phoenix Chapter member offers free native plants and wildflower seeds as part of a Little Free Library in front of their home in Tempe.
Native Seeds/SEARCH – Purchase seeds online from their conservation farm in southern Arizona.
If you feel there’s a local nursery, native plant fundraiser, or seed supplier we should add to our list, please let us know!
Additional Chapter Announcements
Invasive Species Alert: Fountain Grass
Fountain grass (Pennisetum setaceum) is a popular landscaping plant, but a dangerous invasive weed. Its seeds easily spread and invade roadsides, washes, and natural areas. As a result, Fountain grass pushes out native plants and wildlife, disrupts water flow and availability, and increases the risk and severity of wildfires. Therefore, it was listed as an Arizona noxious weed in early 2020 and is no longer sold by the nursery trade.
The Arizona Native Plant Society, along with several partners, created an informational pamphlet to help the community learn how to identify and control Fountain grass. Please download, read, and share this important information with others!
Fountain grass is a popular landscaping plant, but a dangerous invasive weed. If you have it in your landscape, please remove it.
Chapter Leadership
Name
Role
Contact
Lisa Rivera
President
aznpsphoenix@gmail.com
Pam McMillie
Vice President
Danielle Carlock
Treasurer
Kathy Balman
Secretary
Volunteering Opportunities
Want to get involved? We've got just the thing!
Outdoor Opportunities
If you are interested in volunteer activities related to restoration, invasive species control, gardening, conservation, or scientific research, we recommend contacting the following organizations.
These are citizen science and community science projects you can participate in on your own at home, during a walk in your neighborhood, or while visiting Arizona’s public lands.
An iNaturalist project focused on plants found in urban environments. There are also monthly EcoQuest challenges that focus on certain species. Add your photo observations to the project. Or, if plant identification is your superpower, help to ID what others saw!
If you see milkweed plants or monarch butterflies, eggs, or caterpillars while outdoors, take a photo and submit your sighting to this regional project.
Monarchs need milkweed and nectar plants, so hopefully you have these growing in your yard or neighborhood! Join this monarch “tagging” project to help document Western monarch migration.
Access digitized natural history data online to help transcribe and decipher field notebooks, photographs, museum labels, and data sheets from around the world.
Visit one of six local libraries loaning out citizen science tools and supplies.
Chapter News
Arizona’s Desert Tortoise Adoption Program
Posted on May 23, 2022
Did you know that Arizona has a Desert Tortoise adoption program?
This was the topic of the Phoenix Chapter’s May meeting. Kellie Tharpe of the Arizona Game and Fish Department gave a feature presentation. The recording is available to watch any time on the AZNPS YouTube Channel.
Watch the video to learn about the adoption program, including how to create tortoise habitat in your yard using native plants!
The Phoenix Chapter’s Vice President, Pam McMillie, was interviewed for an article in the Fall 2021 issue of Desert Rivers Audubon Magazine. In the article, entitled “Improve your Backyard Bird Count with Native Plants,” is on page 10.
Pam provided tips on how to decide what to plant and where. She also shared a few of her favorite bird-friendly plants and recommendations on how to grow them.
Photo credit: Lisa Rivera
To see past issues of the magazine, visit their archives link.
Happenings – Spring newsletter
Posted on Mar 02, 2022
The Spring 2022 edition of Happenings is now available!Download a copy to learn more about activities of Arizona Native Plant Society chapters around the state.
