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
Book Review: Attracting Native Pollinators
Posted on Apr 25, 2021
Because There is No Such Thing as Too Many Books
By Pam McMillie, Phoenix Chapter Vice President
For those of you who do not know me, I have had a whorl wind tour over the past ten years, moving from homes in the Washington, DC suburb of Fairfax to a farm in rural Orange County, VA, then to San Antonio, TX, and finally here to Phoenix. Throughout these moves, I have found both human and natural friendship in the form of creating pollinator gardens.
I’ve made a million garden mistakes along the way. I still don’t know what I was thinking when I planted Passion vine (Passiflora incarnata) beside my she shed in rural Virginia. Let’s just say ‘exceeds expectations’ is a polite way to say how much that plant grew. The happy side of that accident was the number of Gulf fritillary butterflies I had hanging around the place.
Honey bee zooming in on Mexican fence post cactus (Lophocereus marginatus).
But the more butterflies my garden plants attracted, the more I needed to learn about pollinators in general. I began wondering about the bees I was seeing and marveling at the flies and beetles on my plants. The more plants I installed, the more I would see creatures I’d never paid any mind. So began my descent into symbiotic relationships within plant communities and my questions exploded exponentially.
Fortunately, I found this wonderful book, Attracting Native Pollinators. It is written by The Xerces Society, an environmental organization dedicated to research and support of the role of invertebrates in the environment.
With a text divided into four sections, this book begins with an introduction to the topic of pollinators and pollination, providing an overview of pollinator biology and commentary on several types of bees, flies, butterflies, moths, and beetles. It concludes with the threats pollinators face, to include loss and fragmentation of habitat, climate change, and pesticides/GMO crops.
In part two the authors discuss a number of ways to take action. Home, school, and community gardens are probably of interest to all of us. This portion of the book provides a simple introduction to providing foraging habitats and nesting and overwintering sites. It also includes information on how to help pollinators in natural areas, greenspaces, and farms.
Geron bee fly on Desert chicory (Rafinesquia neomexicana).
Part three engages the reader in a deeper dive into the bees of North America, discussing bee families and their unique needs.
Finally, in part four, the reader gets some practical advice in creating pollinator-friendly landscapes. I think those of you so inclined to design your own gardens will find these chapters particularly interesting as they provide sample garden plans and recommendations by region for pollinator and butterfly host plants.
Engelmann’s hedgehog cactus (Echinocereus engelmanni) with a solitary desert bee.
Like all books designed for a wide audience, this book is inclusive of all regions of the United States. It will no doubt inspire you and leave you seeking out more specific information about pollinator-friendly plants native to the many regions of Arizona.
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 the spread of Fountain grass. The timing of its release coincides with the spring flowering of Fountain grass throughout Central and Southern Arizona.
Many Echinocereus, including Engelmann’s hedgehog or Strawberry cactus (E.engelmannii), produce a very delicious fruit reported to taste a lot like strawberries (Eppel, 2012). The tiny red fruit, in keeping with the stature of the diminutive Engelmann’s hedgehog, comes from a 4 to 12 inch tall cylindrical cactus with 8 to 14 ribs. The inch-long fruit can be circular to egg-shaped with a fleshy white pulp. As the fruit reaches maturity, the deciduous spines fall off (Tibbits, 2020).
In contrast, its large 2 to 3 inch wide tubular flowers seem oversized. The brilliant flowers blossom from April to May ranging in color from bright magenta to pale pink, but only last for 5 days opening in the morning and closing at night.
Photo credit: Lisa Rivera
Native to the southwestern US and northern Mexico, this slow-growing succulent’s name is due to short, spiny stems which resemble hedgehogs. Their 2 inch curved radial spines may be red, yellow, white, or gray. Protection from rodents and other herbivores is provided by the sharp spines, sometimes covering the whole plant. The spines also give shade which keeps the stem at an optimal temperature. To reduce water loss, the cactus produces a waxy coat which is heaviest on the plant section receiving the most sun. In the evenings, Hedgehog cacti open their stomata (pores) to perform an oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange (Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, 2010).
Photo credit: Lisa Rivera
Found on hillsides, desert plains, and scrubland in generally dry, sunny locations, this perennial appears from sea level to 5,000 feet. They form medium-sized clusters or colonies with as many as 50 to 60 stems and spread 3 feet wide. The stems of these very common cacti are initially upright but with old age may fall to the ground and grow laterally.
Photo credit: Lisa Rivera
At least 8 varieties of E. engelmannii are found in the Sonoran Desert and in garden nurseries as well. These pretty little succulents can be propagated from seeds sown in the spring or offsets grown from a base plant. To thrive, potted or wild, a Hedgehog cactus needs nearly full sun for 6 or more hours daily and good drainage (VanZile, 2021). Overwatering is likely to produce root rot. If potted, a small dose of diluted fertilizer once or twice a month will maintain a healthy plant.
As a food plant, hedgehog cacti have been used by indigenous peoples of the Southwest. Ripe fruit has been eaten raw and dried for future use, prepared as a sweet snack for children, and converted to a jam or jelly. The inner stem, described as a survival food, is best eaten boiled or roasted.
The Hedgehog cactus has additional properties valuable to desert dwellers and others. The soothing topical qualities of the inner stem can be applied to burns including sunburn. Taken internally, reports suggest that the inner stem also has potential to lower blood sugar and cholesterol levels (Kane, 2020). Other than the prickly thorns, no cautions exist for the fruit or stems. The biggest challenge presented by the Hedgehog cactus is to find the ripe fruit before the birds and rodents have a special strawberry-flavored treat!
Photo credit: Lisa Rivera
Sources:
Eppel, A. (2012). Plants of Arizona: A Field Guide. Rowan and Littlefield: Helena, Montana.
Kane, C.W. (2020). Sonoran Desert Food Plants. Lincoln Town Press: USA.
