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.
2022 Arizona Botany Meeting – Saturday, December 3rd from 9:00 AM to 3:30 PM
Join us and AZNPS Chapters from throughout the state for the 19th Annual Arizona Botany Meeting! This virtual event takes place Saturday, December 3. The theme is Native Plants of Arizona: Exploring the Unique Plants and Ecosystems of our Botanically Diverse State.
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!
Join in on a fall season nature walk!
Several local organizations host free or low-cost seasonal wildflower walks, interpretive hikes, and educational activities. Learn more by clicking on the links below.
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 are scheduled.
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.
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.
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
Maricopa Pollinator Pathway: Garden Certification Program for AZ
Posted on Nov 08, 2022
The Maricopa Pollinator Pathway is a new initiative of the Maricopa Native Seed Library which helps to build interconnected pollinator habitat. The Pathway also offers a free pollinator habitat certification program for Maricopa County and other low & intermediate desert areas of Arizona (under 3000 feet elevation).
Danielle Carlock, the seed library’s founder, recently gave a presentation about the Maricopa Pollinator Pathway to the Phoenix Chapter. The presentation recording is available on the Arizona Native Plant Society’s YouTube channel. Watch to learn how to create pollinator habitat in your outdoor space using native plants. Then, certify your habitat with the Maricopa Pollinator Pathway!
The Phoenix Chapter assisted in the development of the habitat certification criteria. So, we are excited to help promote the Maricopa Pollinator Pathway and increase the number of pollinator-friendly gardens in Arizona. We encourage you to spread word about the program to your family, friends, and neighbors!
Native Plants for Desert Tortoises: 2022 Update
Posted on Nov 01, 2022
The Phoenix Chapter collaborated with the Arizona Game and Fish Department to update the Native Plants for Desert Tortoises pamphlet. The native plants listed provide captive desert tortoises a nutritious diet. (These plants are also great choices for landscaping, even if you don’t have a tortoise!)
Arizona’s desert tortoise adoption program is open to all Arizona residents. Native Plants for Desert Tortoises provides tips on creating and maintaining a tortoise habitat, which is required to adopt a tortoise.
Desert tortoise adoption was the topic of a recent Phoenix Chapter meeting, where 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.
Phoenix Chapter Vice President, Pam McMillie, passed away unexpectedly in September after experiencing health issues. The loss of Pam has left us heartbroken and stunned.
Pam was our VP for 2 years and brought a wealth of experience, with a background in gardening, environmental stewardship, ecological restoration, education, and military service. We benefited from her expertise and joyful presence at our virtual Chapter meetings, and she was heading our new Outreach Committee.
If you did not have the pleasure of meeting Pam, below are links to two articles that highlight her passion for wildlife and gardening with native plants.
Also, during our Chapter meeting in August, Pam mentioned that the following 3 books “changed her understanding of the wild”:
Where the Wild Things Were by William Stolzenburg
What the Robin Knows by Jon Young
The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben
Pam may be gone, but her giving spirit will live on through programs and activities she championed as a leader with our organization, as well as Maricopa County Parks, Phoenix Parks, the Texas Native Plant Society, and as a Master Naturalist in Arizona, Virginia, and Texas.
Phoenix Sonoran Preserve, one of Pam’s favorite places to hike. Photo credit: Pam McMillie
As stated in her obituary, “In lieu of sending flowers or other donations, please take a few minutes for yourself to enjoy a bit of the outdoors in a park or have a walk along a trail which was one of the things Pam so very much loved.”
The feature presentation of our November Chapter meeting is dedicated to Pam and her help in developing and implementing the Maricopa Pollinator Pathway. We will also remember Pam at a future Phoenix Chapter member meet up in the great outdoors.
