Annual Desert Museum Plant Sale

Next Year’s Dates and Times coming soon

Fall is the perfect time to refresh your landscape with new or replacement plants! This year’s Plant Sale will have around 300 types of plants, including some species never offered here before. We’ll also highlight five special categories of plants that will help you create a garden that goes beyond beautiful.

Plant List coming soon!

Butterfly Gardening & Milkweed for Monarchs

Each year, millions of monarch butterflies undertake an amazing, multi-generational migration from Mexico through the southern United States and into Southern Canada. Along the way, they lay their eggs on milkweed plants (genus Asclepias), which the caterpillars feed upon. Monarchs require significant nectar resources to fuel their remarkable journey and seek out favorite shrubs like Floss flower and Butterfly bush, which also attract other popular butterfly species. By adding these plants to your garden, you are providing essential habitat for these important pollinators.
Check out Butterfly Garden plants!

False Indigo Bush
(Amorpha fruticosa)
© 2008 Austin, Dan / ASDM Sonoran Desert Library

Nacapule Jasmine
(Vallesia laciniata)
© 2001 Dimmitt, Mark A. / ASDM Sonoran Desert Digital Library

Arrowweed
(Pluchea sericea)
© 2002 Dimmitt, Mark A. / ASDM Sonoran Desert Digital Library

Hummingbird Gardening

Hummingbirds are some of the most fascinating, colorful, and skillful fliers in the world, and we’re lucky to have more than a dozen species found in southern Arizona including year-round residents, such as the Costa’s Hummingbird and Anna’s Hummingbird, and seasonal visitors, like the Rufous Hummingbird. Hummingbirds can be very territorial over feeding areas so the bigger the buffet, the better!
Check out Hummingbird Garden plants!

Texas firecracker bush
(Hamelia patens)
© Mountain States Wholesale Nursery

Rosary Babybonnets
(Coursetia glandulosa)
© 2014 Austin, Dan / ASDM Sonoran Desert Digital Library

Sonoran Nightshade
(Solanum hindsianum)
© 2011 Parker, Angella / ASDM Sonoran Desert Digital Library

Desert Tortoise Forage

From the very fast to the very slow, we’re also stocking up on plants to feed your favorite desert tortoise! The Museum established the Tortoise Adoption Program to assist the Arizona Game and Fish Department with the transfer of unwanted or surplus captive desert tortoises to qualified private caretakers. The desert tortoise is herbivorous, feeding mostly on native grasses, leafy plants and flowers, but it’s also important to avoid some kinds of toxic landscape plants such as oleander.
Check out Desert Tortoise Forage plants!

Desert Globemallow
(Sphaeralcea ambigua)
© Alex Kerstitch / ASDM Sonoran Desert Digital Library

Desert Aromatics

While all plants have their unique qualities, some stand out more than others in the hearts and minds of desert dwellers. Check out these desert aromatic species that engage our olfactory senses, especially during our seasonal rain events.
Check out Desert aromatic plants!

Desert Lavender (Hyptis albida) © 1978 ASDM	Sage or White Sagebrush (Artimesia ludoviciana) © Arizona State University	Mexican tarragon (Tagetes lucida) © 1990 ASDM
Creosote bush (Larrea divaricata tridentata) © 2008 Hornbaker, William / ASDM Sonoran Desert Digital Library

Heritage Food Plants

Since 2003, the Kino Heritage Fruit Trees Project has sought to research, locate, propagate and re-establish historically appropriate fruit tree cultivars to the original orchards and gardens at Tumacácori National Historical Park and Tucson Origins Heritage Park. These edible additions represent the unique and diverse culinary history of our region, and allow you to bring home a taste of the past.
Check out a selection of traditional varieties!