TUCSON CHAPTER

“Wild in the City” Yard Tour

April 12, 2008

Do you want to recreate your yard as native wildlife habitat in the city? Attend the Arizona Native Plant Society’s yard tour of six gardens, including:

Gardens for butterfly, moth and other pollinators
Backyard ponds for native frogs and fish
Native desert tortoise foods and the tortoise adoption program
How to create lizard habitat in your yard
Native desert and riparian bird habitat

Meet with experienced owners and wildlife experts! Hear about Tucson Audubon’s urban wildife restoration effort, and see how you can reconnect your yard to larger wildlife spaces in Pima County. All sites will include plant lists.

You can buy tickets the day of the event at The Nature Conservancy campus at 1510 E. Fort Lowell, anytime after 11 a.m. on Saturday. The event runs 11am-4pm. A tour fee ($6 for individuals, or $10 per group of two or more) covers the costs of plant lists for each site, and will assist efforts of the Arizona Native Plant Society’s conservation committee.

Would you like to see a sample of one of the yards with ponds for native frogs & fish? Click here for the PDF file.

ONGOING WALKS:

Sabino Canyon Plant Walks. Join us Sabino Canyon Volunteer Naturalists for some of our weekly flower strolls on Mt. Lemmon. We start in May and flower through September. Walks can be anywhere from Prison Camp to Mt. Lemmon summit. The walks are usually during the week, meeting at Palisades Ranger Station at 9AM. Joan Tedford and Bob Porter lead the walks. The group welcomes new participants. For info contact Joan Tedford.

Tohono Chul Park Plant Walks http://www.tohonochulpark.org/walkingtourslowseason.html Every month of the year, and are included in the admission price. No reservations necessary:

Connecting Plants and People. 1st Saturday of the month at 10:00am
Discover the edible and useful plants of the Sonoran Desert.
The Great Xeriscape. 3rd Saturday of the month at 10:00am. Unearth the how-to’s for using native and arid-adapted plants in water-saving landscapes.
Walk in the Park.Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays at 9:00am. Experience Tohono Chul Park while learning some of the basics of the ecology of the Sonoran Desert.

AZNPS members with the Sonora Native Plant Society on a field trip in November 2007

Monthly programs are held on the 2nd Wednesday of each month from September through May, beginning at 7:00pm (NOTE TIME CHANGE) at the Arizona Game & Fish Office, 555 N Greasewood (west side of road between Speedway & Anklam). Look for the AZNPS sandwich board that marks the driveway. For information about the Tucson Chapter, please email tucson@aznps.org or our officers.

Join our chapter email events listing! The southern chapter has an e-list set up to bring you news of events, meetings, or outings related to native plants. We'll also alert you to volunteer opportunities along the way. Send your email address to Nancy Zierenberg. Don't forget to keep us updated on email address changes, as well as postal address changes. It will save AZNPS money!