Native Plants

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Saturday - January 23, 2016

From: New River, AZ
Region: Southwest
Topic: Plant Lists, Shrubs
Title: Shrubs for 2,000 feet Elevation in AZ
Answered by: Anne Van Nest

QUESTION:

What shrubs can I plant in New River, AZ, 2,000 feet above sea level?

ANSWER:

The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service has an informative Technical Notes factsheet on Arizona Plants that identifies which ones grow at higher elevations. Take a look at this factsheet to start making your list of shrubs.

Now that you have some high elevation shrub possibilities from the USDA factsheet, the Native Plant Database is the next place to get more information about your potential shrubs. Click on the links below for more individual details.

Seep Willow (Mule Fat, batamote, water-wally) Baccharis salicifolia (B. glutinosa), Shrub (thicket forming) Up to 5,500 ft but usually lower.

Coyote Willow (Narrowleaf, Sandbar, Basket Willow), Salix exigua, Creeping type shrub. Sea level to 7,000 ft. On moist sandy soils of streams in deserts, grasslands, pinyon-juniper & oak woodlands, lower Ponderosa pine forests.

Arrow-weed Pluchea sericea, Shrub. Throughout most of Arizona up to 3,000 ft. Along streams and in moist (sometimes saline) soils.

Arroyo Willow (White Willow), Salix lasiolepis, Shrub / Tree, 6,000 to 7,000 ft. Mountains streams of eastern AZ.

Mexican (Blue) Elderberry, Sambucus nigra (mexicana), Shrub / Tree, 1,200 to 5,000 feet along streams and arroyos in desert and desert grasslands.

Screwbean Mesquite (tornillo), Prosopis pubescens, Tree / Shrub, Sea level to 4,000 ft. Most commonly found in Yuma, La Paz and Mohave counties along floodplains and often on saline soils.

Quailbush, Atriplex lentiformis, Shrub, Sea level to 4,000 ft.

Catclaw Acacia, Acacia greggii, Shrub, Sea level to 5,000 ft.

Whitethorn Acacia, Acacia constricta, Shrub, 2,500 to 5,000 ft.

Fourwing Saltbush (chamiza), Atriplex canescens, Shrub, Up to 6,500 ft.