Archive for “wildlife” Tag

News & Events

Calling All Photographers! Enter the WRRC 2024 Photo Contest

November 20, 2024

Enter the 2024 Photo Contest! The Water Resources Research Center (WRRC) is excited to announce its 2024 annual photo contest! This year’s theme, Water in Arizona, offers lots of opportunities for creativity, inviting you to capture the essence of how water impacts life in our state. Whether you’re passionate about landscapes, wildlife, urban scenes, or how people interact with water, …

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Plant of the Month – Ironwood

June 3, 2024

Desert Ironwood, Olneya tesota Dense, thorny, and strong like steel, the Desert Ironwood Tree (Olneya tesota) is an under recognized super tree of the Sonoran Desert. It is naturally found along washes and hillsides of Arizona’s deserts under 3,000 ft of elevation. It offers valuable protection for understory plants and habitat for our native wildlife. When in their natural environment, …

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Chandler – Native Plant Identification

January 17, 2024

Are you interested in plants native to the Arizona desert? This workshop will teach you the importance of native plants, how to identify them, and which plants to select if you want to attract pollinators or wildlife! Furthermore, learn the dangers of invasive species and why it’s better to choose native. Register here!

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Valentine’s Day with Wayne Drop

January 26, 2022

Hey Everybody! Wayne Drop here… Valentine’s Day is coming up! Here are some fun messages to share with your crush… along with some water-saving tips they will be sure to love.   Water you wading for? Be mine. We love our earth and the special gifts it gives us, especially water. We have 100+ tips to help you save it. …

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Mesa’s Plants to Provide Shade, Color, and Wildlife

June 29, 2021

Would you like to attract birds or butterflies to your yard or perhaps you are looking for year-round color, or a cool, shady retreat? By selecting plants that are well-adapted to our desert climate you’ll have less maintenance and more time and money to enjoy your beautiful landscape. Horticulturist and Conservation Coordinator, Donna DiFrancesco, from the City of Mesa Environmental …

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plant that attracts butterflies

Plant of the Month: Pollinator-Friendly Plants are All the Buzz

May 10, 2021

Bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies are just a few of the helpful pollinators flying through our landscapes. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, pollinators are responsible for assisting over 80% of the world’s flowering plants to reproduce. We depend on pollinators for the gardens we enjoy, plant materials we utilize, and the food we eat. Bees are by far the …

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Plant of the Month: Night-Blooming Cereus (repandus and hildmannianus)

August 27, 2019

Cereus cacti are nighttime showstoppers that are not shy about strutting their blooms. The two Cereus species highlighted, repandus and hildmannuamus, are so similar it’s challenging to differentiate between them. Like most cacti, this garden giant sits unassuming in the landscape, happy to take in full sun with minimal water. In late spring however, large white showy flowers will open …

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Scottsdale’s free landscape workshop: Plant something and attract birds (and people)!

July 31, 2019

No one likes going hungry—especially not the birds visiting your yard! Learn how and why native plants are critical to wildlife… and how to select the right plant for the right place. Discover Audubon’s new search-able database of nearly 3,000 native plants and trees and unlock the potential of your yard to be beautiful, low maintenance and bird friendly!

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Plant of the Month – The Mighty Saguaro

May 15, 2018

The Saguaro cactus, Carnegiea gigantea, is the most famous and characteristic plant of the Sonoran desert. This gigantic, tree-like cactus is an Arizona icon! Description The main trunk of a mature Saguaro may be 40 feet high and 2 feet in diameter. A woody inner skeleton provides the strength to support ten arms or more. Although the age of a Saguaro …

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Saguaro in desert