Supporting Tucson wildlife with native plants
One way gardeners can really help our beautiful Sonoran desert is to plant native plants. This has multiple benefits. It provides habitat for native wildlife, helps control noxious weeds, and reduces water and other resource use. Using native plants also gives us a sense of place. If you love the Sonoran Desert, why would you surround yourself with plants that don’t belong in it?
Helping our native wildlife is perhaps the biggest benefit of native plants. With ecosystems increasingly under pressure from development, climate change and other human impacts, our backyards can serve as havens for Tucson's wildlife. This is particularly important for smaller creatures like insects that form the base of the food web.
Fortunately, there are plenty of local resources (including the Tucson Garden Guide which you can subscribe to for free at tucson.com/newsletters) to help you pick out the perfect native plants. Check out these articles for options, resources and other helpful information.
(11) updates to this series since Updated
If you'd like to see more hummingbirds in your Tucson yard, check out these easy-to-grow plants.
You can help out butterflies by following these guidelines for planting a butterfly garden in your Tucson yard.
Here are some great local resources to help gardeners search for the appropriate plants for their Tucson yard.
If you live in a cooler part of Tucson, you can still have plants with beautiful color and shape. Read on to learn more about some of my favorites.
If you're tired of yellow and purple and are looking to add a different look to your garden, here is a selection of native and near-native Arizona plants that have beautiful white flowers.
Keep your pollinators happy year-round and your Tucson garden looking beautiful with these winter flowering plants.
Have space in your yard for a tall tree? Here are some great native trees that grow over 30 feet and should provide you with great shade and lots of bird habitat.
Tired of seeing the same plants in every yard? Want to help local wildlife? Find six native plant alternatives here.
Where do you find native, pesticide-free plants in Tucson? What features does your pollinator garden need? Learn how to design your Tucson pollinator garden and get resources for learning more about the process.
Want to grow food but don't have the patience for vegetable beds? Here are some low-maintenance native desert food plants to try out like mesquite, palo verde, hackberry, wolfberry, prickly pear and more.
Oleander is overused and is extremely poisonous. Here are some native plant alternatives.
