Chapter Meetings & Events
For the remainder of 2020, all Chapter activities will take place virtually via Zoom. Our virtual events will be announced at least two weeks in advance to our email list subscribers. To join our email list, please contact aznpsphoenix@gmail.com.
Our events 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.
Next Chapter Meeting – November 2020 (date TBD)
Join us via Zoom for a presentation and discussion about landscaping with native plants in the Phoenix metro area. Full details coming soon!
2020-2021 Chapter Elections
Our annual Chapter elections will take place during our November meeting. Chapter offices are open to members only. To learn more or to make a nomination for one our offices, please email aznpsphoenix@gmail.com.
Phoenix Chapter Book Club – Date TBD
Later this season we will discuss Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants by Douglas W. Tallamy. We encourage you to read the book in the coming months (if you haven’t read it already) to prepare for our upcoming discussion.
Budding Botanist Training – January 2021 (tentative)
Our Chapter has informed the Desert Botanical Garden that we are interested in participating a virtual Budding Botanist Training, along with other AZNPS Chapters. This event is tentatively scheduled for January 2021. More details to come!
Chapter Announcements
If you opt to explore our beautiful desert parks and public lands that are open, please do so safely to protect yourself and others.
Also, take extra care to obey fire restrictions that are in place in many areas. For the latest information about wildfires in Arizona or anywhere in the US, visit https://inciweb.nwcg.gov. (Image source: Bureau of Land Management – Arizona)
Join our virtual community!
To stay up to date on where our meetings will be held and other activities, please join our email list.
Follow the AZNPS Phoenix Chapter’s Facebook page for more information about local native plants news 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?
We’ve compiled a list of metro Phoenix nurseries with a nice selection of native plants. Click here to download a copy. Due to precautionary measures currently in place, please contact a nursery directly to determine if they have special operating hours or procedures.
In addition, many local organizations hold plant sale fundraisers in the spring and fall because those are ideals times for planting. Please see the list below for upcoming events. We’ll update you if/when any additional local plant sales take place this year.
Boyce Thompson Arboretum – Fall Plant Sale: October 9th to 25th
Desert Botanical Garden – Fall Plant Sale: Weekends from October 16th to November 1st (Reservation required)
Monsoon season and fall are terrific times to add wildflower seeds to your landscape, assuming it rains! For a wide variety of native plant seeds, we recommend the following sources:
Maricopa Native Seed Library – This new local project offers native seeds for free, currently at Gateway Community College library and select farmer’s markets.
Borderlands Restoration Network – Purchase seeds online or visit their nursery in Patagonia.
Native Seeds/SEARCH – Purchase seeds online or visit their store in Tucson.
If you feel there’s a local nursery, native plant fundraiser, or seed supplier we should add to our list, please let us know!
| Name | Role | Contact |
| Lisa Rivera | President | aznpsphoenix@gmail.com |
| Natalie Melkonoff | Vice President | |
| Danielle Carlock | Secretary | |
| Steve Blackwell | Treasurer |
Want to get involved? We've got just the thing!
Volunteer activities are currently limited due to COVID-19 precautions. We recommend the following citizen science projects that you can safely participate in on your own while social distancing at home or taking a walk in your neighborhood.
Local Citizen Science Opportunities
An iNaturalist project focused on plants found in urban environments. There are also monthly EcoQuest challenges that focus on certain species.
Document the seasonal changes in plants or animals near your home by becoming a USA – National Phenology Network observer.
A special initiative in metro Phoenix to identify and map invasive plants. There is also a special project dedicated to locating stinknet (Oncosiphon piluliferum).
Contribute invasive buffelgrass observations to the USA – National Phenology Network’s Buffelgrass Green-Up phenophase map.
Western Monarch Milkweed Mapper
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.
Native plants attract a variety of birds. Report the type of birds you see in your yard, neighborhood, or local park.
Native flowering plants are essential for bumble bees. Help scientists track their populations by submitting photos of the ones you see.
If you have a rain gauge at home (or decide to purchase one), join this Arizona rainfall monitoring network to submit your daily rainfall totals.
Access digitized natural history data online to help transcribe and decipher field notebooks, photographs, museum labels, and data sheets from around the world.
Select from a variety of online projects to contribute to real academic research from your own computer.
Libraries as Hubs for Citizen Science
Visit one of six local libraries loaning out citizen science tools and supplies.
Posted on Sep 17, 2020
In August we hosted a virtual Metro Phoenix EcoFlora workshop presented by Jeny Davis, EcoFlora Coordinator and AZNPS Phoenix Chapter member.
A recording of the webinar is available on YouTube. We invite you to watch and learn how to become a “neighborhood naturalist”!
Posted on Aug 05, 2020
Over the summer, we began a pilot project in coordination with the Maricopa Native Seed Library to study the success of using seeds balls as a method to add native plants to home landscapes. Seed balls are widely used, but there are few published studies about them. So we’ve teamed up to study their germination success in various residential locations throughout the Valley.
Thirty of our members and supporters are participating in the seed ball project. They “planted” the seeds balls at home in July and will monitor any growth over the summer and fall. We’ll keep you posted on what happens!
Posted on Jun 02, 2020
There is a new citizen science project that we encourage our members to participate in! The Metro Phoenix EcoFlora, led by the Desert Botanical Garden, is an iNaturalist project focused on plants found in urban environments. So, this is a project that can safely be done while social distancing at home or taking a walk in the neighborhood.
There are also monthly EcoQuest challenges, and the June EcoQuest is to post observations of desert willow (Chilopsis linearis)!
See what your chapter has been up to!
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