Ciénega WatershedPlumbing · Tucson Begin a site walk

Garden · Plant atlas · Rev 7

What the captured water is for.

Five desert species we route water to most often. Per-plant water budgets in summer, root depth, nursery sources, and the subsystems each one pairs with. We don't sell plants. We tell you which nursery does and we plant whatever you bring.

A row of young velvet mesquite seedlings in 5-gallon containers, ready for installation, at Desert Survivors Native Plant Nursery.

The atlas is short on purpose. We name only the species we install most often, on the lots we work on most often, where the receiving conditions match. Tucson supports more than three hundred native plants and roughly the same number of well-adapted non-natives; this isn't a botanical garden. It's a working list.

Authoritative species data comes from the USDA NRCS PLANTS Database, the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum living collections, and Arizona Native Plant Society publications. Nursery information is verified live with the named source.

Mature velvet mesquite canopy with dappled afternoon shade.
Prosopis velutina

Velvet mesquite

Native canopy keystone. Will run a 50-foot taproot. Basin off your downspout makes it grow visibly faster.

15–20 gal/wkEARTH-1, GWY-1, COND-1
Foothill palo verde with green photosynthetic bark and bipinnate leaflets.
Parkinsonia microphylla

Foothill palo verde

Arizona's state tree. Photosynthesizes through its bark; drops leaves in drought. Wants infrequent deep water.

3–6 gal/wkEARTH-1
Desert ironwood mottled bark and dense gray-green foliage.
Olneya tesota

Desert ironwood

Slow, dense, long-lived. IUCN near-threatened in parts of its range. Plant where the homeowner wants the next century.

4–8 gal/wkEARTH-1, COND-1
Bright red chuparosa flower with hummingbird visiting.
Justicia californica

Chuparosa

Hummingbird-pollinated red-flowering shrub. Thrives on AC condensate alone. The plant we use to test a new COND-1 line.

2–4 gal/wkCOND-1
Desert milkweed pencil-stem clump with cream-colored umbel flowers.
Asclepias subulata

Desert milkweed

Vertical pencil stems, monarch host. Drought-tough; we plant it on the rim of greywater basins where occasional surface contact would risk a sensitive species.

1–2 gal/wkGWY-1, EARTH-1
Plant atlas summary · 2026 working list
SpeciesMature sizeSummer gal/wkRoot depthSubsystemsNursery source
Velvet mesquite25–35′ × 25–40′15–2015–50′EARTH-1, GWY-1, COND-1Desert Survivors
Foothill palo verde15–25′ × 18–25′3–610–15′EARTH-1Desert Survivors
Desert ironwood20–30′ × 25–35′4–815–25′EARTH-1, COND-1Spadefoot Nursery
Chuparosa3–6′ × 4–6′2–44–8′COND-1Desert Survivors
Desert milkweed3–4′ × 3′1–23–6′GWY-1, EARTH-1Spadefoot Nursery

We don't sell plants.

If you bring them, we plant them; if you'd rather have us source, we charge cost-plus-zero from the nurseries we trust. We also have a single piece of advice on what to plant first.

Talk through a planting plan →

Sources & further reading

  1. USDA NRCS PLANTS Database.
  2. Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum · Living Collections.
  3. Arizona Native Plant Society.
  4. Desert Survivors Native Plant Nursery · 1020 W Starr Pass Blvd, Tucson.
  5. Spadefoot Nursery · 4444 E Speedway Blvd, Tucson.
  6. Tucson Water · Approved drought-tolerant plant list.
  7. USFS · Fire Effects Information System · Velvet Mesquite.
  8. IUCN Red List · Olneya tesota.