Welcome to the Arizona Native Plant Society Grow Native: Don’t Plant a Pest project.

This website supplements the southeastern Arizona Grow Native: Don’t Plant a Pest pamphlet, which highlights native plant alterNATIVES to invasive non-native landscape plants. Click the image of the pamphlet's cover to download a copy of the brochure (1.4MB). Hardcopies of the brochure are available. A nominal fee will be charged to cover postage for bulk orders.

Most plants that are brought into the region through the nursery trade do not become invasive or cause problems. In fact, the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum  estimates that only about 15-20% of introduced plants can actually survive in the wild. Yet some of these survivors can become aggressive invaders, crowding out native plants, changing natural ecosystem processes, and fueling unnatural fires.

• Impacts of Invasive Plants
• Hiding in Plain Sight: The Making of an Invasive Plant
• On the Loose and Out of Control: Fountain Grass and Buffelgrass
• Backyard Ponds:  Keep it Native in Your Backyard Ponds

The following plants are commonly used in southeastern Arizona landscapes and have proven to be invasive into wildlands. Click on the links to learn about alterNATIVE species you can replace them with.

In addition, a number of aquatic plants used in backyard ponds imperil our already threatened riparian areas.

Fortunately, southeastern Arizona has great plant diversity and many alterNATIVES to all of these pests.