It can be tricky to choose plants that will work in your yard. There are a lot of choices out there, and plants can be picky about where they like to grow.
Fortunately, there are quite a few resources that can help you figure out what plants will work in that spot you’re looking to fill. Many of them list native plants, which is the first thing to look for. Native plants will naturally have a leg up in our climate.
But even choosing natives can be fraught with decisions. For instance, we have quite a lot of native plants that thrive in our riparian areas. Such plants won’t do very well in a south-facing yard with reflected heat. That’s why it’s helpful to use the tools below to search for (as an example) shade tolerant plants, or plants with certain water needs.
These tools can also help you avoid the classic mistake of planting the wrong size plant, since a couple of them allow you to search by mature plant size. This is extremely helpful when you are looking for a plant to fill a particular spot next to some hardscaping or in a traffic area.
Without further ado, here are the resources you can use to help you narrow down your plant selections.
1. UA Campus Arboretum’s plant selection page: This tool is great. You can search by lots of different criteria, including size, origin of the plant, type of plant, and the type of zone it will be growing in. You can also search by seasonality of the plant (i.e. whether it’s evergreen, deciduous, etc.) and by flower season and color. This is great if you’re designing a butterfly or pollinator garden, because you can choose native plants and ensure that you have something blooming year-round for our little friends.
2. AMWUA’s plant search page: Another great search tool, this one also allows searching by plant type, sun exposure, water use, width, flower color and season. You can also search by the type of wildlife you want to attract. Unfortunately, you can’t search by plant origin, but you can put in keywords.
3. Garden Oracle: This site has lots of excellent information about many plants that thrive in Arizona and California. You can only search by type of plant and by a small number of categories (for example, erosion control or pollinator garden). However, the information is so thorough that I highly recommend checking it out.
4. Desert Survivors Nursery’s plant page: On this site, you can search for plants by category — for example, medicinal plants, fragrant plants, plants for different wildlife (like desert tortoise), and night-blooming plants for a moon garden. The great advantage is that they grow and sell native plants and it’s for a good cause. Be sure to call or email them to check on plant availability before you head over.
5. The Spadefoot Nursery site: This site also allows you to look for plants by categories. You can look at wildflowers, succulents, cacti, edibles, trees shrubs, and the like. You can then head over to their online store and also search by category, or by plant name, to see what’s for sale.
6. Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum: The museum has a plant list that has quite a bit of useful information. You can search by type of wildlife you want to attract as well as bloom season, pot plants and plants that are very cold hardy.
