We host events periodically throughout the year. Our events are announced at least 2 weeks in advance to our email list subscribers, and posted here on our Chapter webpage. 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.
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
View our Chapter’s Plant List for Metro Phoenix to learn which plants are local to our area. 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.
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.
Seasonal Plant Sales
Several local organizations hold desert plant sale fundraisers in the Spring and Fall. We’ll update this announcement if/when additional native plant sales are scheduled in the metro Phoenix area.
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 – The public may obtain up to 3 free seed packets per month. Available at several Maricopa Community Colleges libraries.
Glendale Public Library: Seed Library – Library card holders may obtain up to 3 free seed packets every 7 days. Mostly garden seeds, but some wildflower seeds are available.
If you feel there’s a local nursery, native plant fundraiser, or seed supplier we should add to our list, please let us know!
Participate in a local nature walk or educational event!
Many local organizations host free or low-cost seasonal nature walks, interpretive hikes, gardening classes, and educational activities with a focus on native plants & habitats. Learn more by clicking on the links below.
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.
Contribute photos and information about your wildlife sightings to have them identified by other iNaturalist users. “Research grade” observations also contribute to scientific research.
Observe plants as part of this national program to help scientist understand how plants are responding to long-term changes in climate. Or, join their Milkweeds and Monarchs project which is studying whether monarch butterflies prefer to lay eggs on non-flowering milkweed plants.
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.
Help RiversEdge West track the spread of tamarisk beetles (Diorhabda spp.) across the western United States and Mexico. Data is used for an annual distribution map that notes presence and absence of tamarisk beetles.
If you see milkweed plants or monarch butterflies, eggs, or caterpillars while outdoors, take a photo and submit your sighting to this regional project.
Participate in their Land Cover project to help scientists create better maps. Or, join the Trees project by taking height and circumference measurements.
Access digitized natural history data online to help transcribe and decipher field notebooks, photographs, museum labels, and data sheets from around the world.
Chapter News
Little Free “Seed” Library
Posted on Oct 05, 2021
New free native seed library and plant nursery in Tempe
By Erik Chait, Phoenix Chapter Member
I am happy to announce a new native seed library and plant nursery that I created in front of my home in Tempe.
I realize that many people in the Valley are not originally from here. There is a real lack of knowledge concerning which plants are native. Another other thing restricting people from planting native plants, besides knowledge, is cost. I figured this native Sonoran Desert seed library solved both issues in one package. You know you are getting native plant seeds and they are free!
The current offering of free seeds includes:
Desert Marigold (Baileya multiradia)
Desert Globemallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua)
Brittlebush (Encelia farinosa)
Desert Senna (Senna covesii)
Arizona Caltrop (Kallstroemia grandiflora)
Mexican Hat (Ratibida columnifera)
In mid-October the following flowers will be added:
Please feel free to stop by and help yourself! My native seed library and plant nursery is located near the Loop 101 freeway and Baseline Road in Tempe. For the exact location, please visit the Little Free Library website and search for charter number 129689.
The seed library and nursery are well lit at nighttime if you are not able to stop by during the day. The library and nursery also has its own FM radio station. When you pull up, please tune to 87.9 MHz on your car radio for information about the library and nursery.
Plant Profile: Arizona Poppy
Posted on Oct 02, 2021
A Poppy is a Poppy, Right? Meet the Arizona Poppy
By Kathleen M. McCoy, AZNPS Phoenix Chapter Member and Arizona Master Naturalist
On a bright sunny day, with air recently cleansed by a long-awaited monsoon storm, miles and miles of plants loaded with beautiful yellow flowers line the sandy edges of a shallow riverbank to the tops of the nearby hillside. From a distance they seem to be California poppies. A closer look suggests these “poppies” are somewhat different and should not be blossoming at this time of year anyway.
Time to pull out the field guide. Problem solved. The mystery “poppy” is often called the Arizona poppy but is not a poppy at all! Arizona poppy (Kallstroemia grandiflora) is a member of the Caltrop family (Zygophyllaceae) not the Poppy family (Papaveraceae). It is also commonly called Desert poppy, Mexican poppy, or Orange caltrop.
Arizona poppy (Kallstroemia grandiflora)
From a distance the California poppy (Eschscholzia californica ssp. mexicana) and the Arizona poppy can easily be confused. Petal color and habitat are similar. Both thrive on open plains, mesas, and desert slopes at elevations below 4,000 feet, although the Arizona poppy is also a fan of roadsides.
However, a closer view reveals that Arizona poppies are not as petite. In fact, most are over 3 feet tall forming masses 2 to 5 feet across. This woody stemmed bush has hairy branches which are slightly sticky, unlike the slender 16-inch California poppy whose tidy leaves of similar length form a circle at the stem’s base. Another identification clue is the leaf. Although leaves of these two plants are similar in size, definite color differences exist. Arizona poppy leaves are very hairy and grayish green, in contrast to California poppy’s pale bluish green leaves.
Honey-tailed striped sweat bee collecting pollen from Arizona poppy flower.
Blossoming times are also different. California poppy blooms on long naked stems during early spring. Arizona poppy waits for the monsoon rains before the showy blossoms appear. Although both plants have yellow to yellow orange petals, the California poppy dons a 1 ½ inch wide, cup-shaped flower which releases a peppery fragrance. In contrast, Arizona poppy produces many flowers ranging in size from ¾ to 1 ½ inch wide with no obvious scent.
A closer look at the flower will provide unqualified proof of identity. California poppy, which remains open for one day, is usually yellow with 4 petal-like cups, but occasionally can be white or orange. Arizona poppy, regardless of petal color, practically shouts out its identification with a deep red center surrounded by 5 bowl-like petals. The red center reflects ultraviolet rays which attract many invertebrates, such as bees, wasps, flies, and butterflies looking for nectar or pollen.
Birds, especially doves and quails, are attracted to the seeds. Arizona poppy produces copious seeds surrounded by a hardened seed coat. Unless the coat has been broken or scarified, they typically will not sprout for several years. The seeds can remain fertile in the desert for at least 3 years until the monsoons signal it’s time to sprout.
Arizona poppy is a colorful addition to native gardens as well as a plant to aid desert restoration. So, even though the Arizona poppy is not actually a poppy, it produces beautiful flowers during July through Septembers when most other plants have long gone to seed. Now the reply to the question, “A poppy is a poppy, right?” can be answered with “Not if it is Kallstroemia grandiflora!”
The Society’s bi-annual publication has a new name! To distinguish itself as a source for local botanical information, The Plant Press is now known as Plant Press Arizona.
The latest issue is available to view and download for free from our website. Read about herbarium buried treasures, penstemons of Arizona, the Maricopa Native Seed Library, and native plants of Hermosillo (with articles in Spanish & English).
Cover of the Spring/Summer 2021 edition of Plant Press Arizona.
