Native plants of the Desert Southwest
These 53 plants belong to the Desert Southwest. They were here before the gardens were: they know the weather, live on the rain that falls, and feed the insects and birds that grew up alongside them. Plant a few and your yard starts to fit its place.
Berries and small fruit (1)
- Golden currant (clove currant) · zones 2–8
Perennial vegetables, greens and herbs (1)
- Mexican oregano · zones 9–11
Annual vegetables, herbs and grains (3)
- Flint and flour corn (maize) · zones 3–11
- Golden chia (desert chia) · zones 7–10
- Tepary bean · zones 8–11
Native and wild plants (47)
- Banana yucca · zones 5–9
- Black cherry · zones 3–9
- Blanket flower · zones 3–10
- Blue elderberry · zones 5–10
- Blue grama · zones 3–10
- Blue palo verde · zones 8–10
- Blue vervain · zones 3–8
- Butterfly milkweed · zones 3–9
- Buttonbush · zones 4–10
- California fuchsia · zones 8–10
- California poppy · zones 6–10
- Cardinal flower · zones 3–9
- Cattail · zones 3–10
- Chiltepin · zones 9–11
- Chokecherry · zones 2–7
- Cholla (buds) · zones 8–10
- Common sunflower · zones 2–11
- Deergrass · zones 7–10
- Desert globemallow · zones 6–10
- Desert hackberry · zones 8–10
- Desert marigold · zones 7–10
- Desert willow · zones 7–9
- Desert wolfberry · zones 8–10
- Douglas fir · zones 4–8
- Emory oak (bellota) · zones 7–10
- Gambel oak · zones 4–8
- Goldenrod · zones 3–9
- Honey mesquite · zones 6–9
- Jojoba · zones 9–11
- Lacy phacelia · zones 3–10
- Little bluestem · zones 3–9
- Maguey (pulque agave) · zones 8–11
- Nodding onion · zones 3–9
- Parry's agave · zones 7–10
- Pinyon pine · zones 4–8
- Ponderosa pine · zones 3–7
- Quaking aspen · zones 1–7
- Rocky Mountain penstemon · zones 4–8
- Saguaro · zones 9–11
- Screwbean mesquite · zones 7–10
- Showy milkweed · zones 3–9
- Sideoats grama · zones 3–9
- Silver buffaloberry · zones 2–7
- Smooth sumac · zones 2–9
- Switchgrass · zones 4–9
- Texas persimmon · zones 7–10
- Yarrow (native) · zones 3–9
Helper plants for soil, wildlife and biomass (1)
- Milkweed · zones 3–9
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General guidance, not professional advice. Conditions vary by yard and year; for local specifics ask your county extension office. Never eat a wild plant you cannot identify with certainty. Traditional uses are shared as history, not medical advice. © 2026 Sean Priest · Irie Orchard. Terms & credits · Privacy · Home