23 Native Wildflowers For Arizona Gardens

Arizona encompasses a wealth of diverse regions from arid deserts to woodlands, river floodplains to volcanic plateaus, and grassy plains to shrub-covered hillsides. With the number of different habitats, there is a proliferation of different plants that are native to the state. 

There are so many interesting and beautiful plants native to the state of Arizona, it can feel a bit overwhelming. You can easily narrow down your options by studying your own yard. First, learn which USDA Plant Hardiness Zone you live in. Arizona contains at least eight different zones, each of which hosts very different types of plants. You’ll also need to know something about the available sunlight, soil type, soil moisture, and soil drainage within your landscape.

Arizona coral bells blooms anytime from spring through fall, depending on local conditions. The tiny flowers are bright red and form on tall flowering stems. Flowers attract hummingbirds and would look great planted as a ground cover in a woodland garden. The ornamental lobed leaves are arranged in neat rosettes and add their own charm to your landscape. This beautiful perennial wildflower is sure to please!

Arizona Milkweed

	botanical name Asclepias angustifolia
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 1 – 3 feet
	hardiness zones 7 – 10

Here’s a native wildflower exclusively for Arizona gardeners. The Arizona milkweed is native only to this one state, so this wildflower may be a little difficult to find. If you do find seeds or starts, you’re in for a treat. This milkweed species stays about two feet tall and is quite compact. The white flowers bloom in early to mid-summer and complement your entire flower garden with their delicate beauty.

In its natural habitat, the Arizona milkweed prefers constant soil moisture and is best grown near a moist riparian area. If your landscape is more dry and desert-like, this milkweed won’t be the best plant for your garden. Use it in your butterfly garden to attract pollinators and allow monarch butterfly caterpillars to feast on the leaves to grow the next generation of these beautiful butterflies.

Arizona Passion Vine

	botanical name Passiflora arizonica
	sun requirements Partial shade
	height 10 feet
	hardiness zones 8 – 10

Passionflower vines grow throughout much of the United States but the Arizona passion vine is uniquely native to Arizona. This drought-tolerant twining vine can grow up to 10 feet long and would prefer to grow over a trellis or fence. Use it in a partially shaded garden, as a wildlife plant, or in your edible landscape.

Arizona passion vine is a night-blooming wildflower. The flowers open in late afternoon and close the following morning. Pollinated flowers develop pulpy edible fruits. Any fruits not harvested or eaten by animals will be full of seeds that germinate into new vines. Unwanted vines are easily pulled and removed so they won’t become too aggressive.

Banana Yucca

	botanical name Yucca baccata
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 4 – 6 feet
	hardiness zones 5 – 9

If you’re looking for a native Arizona wildflower with exotic flair, try a banana yucca. This succulent perennial forms a large basal rosette of rigid, sword-like leaves. The smooth margins of the leaves peel away in thin, stringy strands, giving them a somewhat weathered appearance. Some regional varieties of this plant will form short trunks, while others remain trunkless.

Banana yucca is named for its thick, fleshy, banana-like fruits. In the spring through mid-summer, banana yuccas bloom with dramatic stalks of white, nodding, elongated flowers that attract night-pollinating moths. Welcome this yucca species to your nighttime garden, xeriscape, or succulent bed. 

Blackfoot Daisy

	botanical name Melampodium leucanthum
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 0.5 – 1 foot
	hardiness zones 4 – 11

The blackfoot daisy is a lovely little wildflower native to the dry grasslands of the Southwest, including Arizona. It loves full sun and well-drained acidic soil. This is the perfect plant for your rock garden or pocket prairie. Its short stature makes it the perfect choice for a border or raised bed garden. 

This daisy has a long blooming season, starting in spring and continuing through summer. This long flowering season brings in plenty of pollinators to feast on the nectar. The white-petaled flowers have yellow centers and at a glance, they resemble small, white zinnias. These perennials are relatively short-lived but readily reseed themselves, continually refreshing their population. 

Blue Flax

	botanical name Linum lewisii
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 2 – 3 feet
	hardiness zones 3 – 9

The blue flax, also called prairie flax or Lewis flax, is a wildflower native throughout western North America. This perennial is easily grown from seed and will self-sow in the garden to keep its population strong. These plants are tolerant of both eat and drought and grow well in containers and raised beds. 

Prairie flax is a lovely addition to your rock garden or xeriscape. The pale purple-blue flowers appear in late spring and continue until early to mid-summer. Individual flowers last just one day but these plants produce prolific numbers of flowers for a long-lasting display. 

Blue Grama Grass

	botanical name Bouteloua gracilis
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 1 – 1.5 feet
	hardiness zones 3 – 10

As you consider plants for your native garden, don’t neglect grasses. Blue grama grass is an ornamental grass native to much of central and western North America. This easy-to-grow grass stays fairly small and compact and makes an excellent filler for a prairie garden or larger naturalized area. 

Blue grama grass blooms from mid-to-late summer into fall. The flowers and seed heads add some unique variety to your garden, catching the light from the late afternoon sun and they sway in the breeze. Blue grama is easily grown from seed and once established, will readily reseed itself in ideal conditions without becoming invasive.

Colorado Blue Columbine 

	botanical name Aquilegia coerulea
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 1 – 2 feet
	hardiness zones 3 – 10

The Colorado blue columbine is native to mountainous regions of Arizona and New Mexico, north through the Rocky Mountains. This is a short-lived perennial wildflower that readily re-seeds itself so you will always be able to enjoy its lovely presence in your garden. 

This columbine is one of many wildflower species native to Arizona and much of North America. Colorado blue columbine sports beautiful pale purple-blue flowers with an unusual shape. Hummingbirds love these flowers and butterflies will also pay a visit. These plants form attractive leafy mounds that stay green throughout the growing season when given adequate shade and moisture. Columbines growing in sunnier and drier plots will turn brown and go dormant earlier in the season. But don’t worry, they’ll be back with renewed vigor the following spring. 

Desert Marigold 

	botanical name Baileya multiradiata
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 1 – 3 feet
	hardiness zones 7 – 10

Would you like a burst of brilliant yellow sunshine in your garden each year? The desert marigold can provide a sunny disposition and plenty of joy to your native desert garden. It’s native to the southwestern United States and Mexico, growing in sunny environments with well-drained, gravelly soils. 

The desert marigold blooms in the spring and, in ideal conditions, continues blooming through the summer. While flowering, bees and butterflies abound to sip from the nectar-rich blooms. While not blooming, the soft, silvery-green foliage looks lovely, growing in neat, compact mounds. These native Arizona wildflowers are well-adapted to full sun and drought-prone conditions. 

Desert Penstemon

	botanical name Penstemon pseudospectabilis
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 2 – 4 feet
	hardiness zones 5 – 9

The desert penstemon is a fantastic addition to your butterfly or pollinator garden. It also attracts hummingbirds! Grow it in a sunny garden with dry, well-drained soil. You can start these plants from seed after a period of cold stratification or divide larger clusters of mature plants. 

Desert penstemon blooms in the winter and spring. It’s vibrant deep pink flowers form dramatic spikes of color. Grow a mass of these penstemon plants together for a truly stunning display. In hotter and more arid regions, desert penstemon prefers some afternoon shade. Grow it alongside a diverse assortment of colorful flowers to attract pollinators throughout the growing season. 

Chocolate Flower

	botanical name Berlandiera lyrata
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 1 – 2 feet
	hardiness zones 4 – 10

Chocolate flower is a lovely sunflower analog native to much of central and western North America. This easy-to-grow plant stays fairly small and compact and makes an excellent filler for a prairie garden or larger naturalized area. 

It blooms from mid to late spring into fall. The flowers and seed heads add some unique interest to your garden, adding pops of yellow in the growing season that fade to stunning green seed heads. These are easily grown from seed and once established, will readily reseed in ideal conditions.

Fairy Duster

	botanical name Calliandra eriophylla
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 2 – 5 feet
	hardiness zones 7 – 11

The fairy duster is a small shrub that makes a colorful addition to your landscape. It blooms in winter and spring, producing unusual pom-pom-like pale pink flowers. The compound leaves are fern-like and fully open during the day, folding up at night. Long, flat seed pods provide additional interest. 

Fairy duster is a hardy, drought-resistant plant perfect for xeriscape gardens. Mature plants can become rather unruly looking but regular pruning will help keep them in a beautifully rounded or mounded shape. This is a good wildlife plant, providing food and shelter for a variety of bird species. Pollinators and hummingbirds also love the flowers.

Firecracker Penstemon

	botanical name Penstemon eatonii
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 1 – 3 feet
	hardiness zones 4 – 8

The firecracker penstemon is ready to put on a showy display. This perennial wildflower is native to Arizona and other parts of the southwestern United States. It’s adaptable to a variety of different conditions but prefers plenty of sunlight with dry, well-drained soil. Use this penstemon for your rock garden or xeriscape. Grow it with other colorful native grassland plants for a spectacular display.

If you hope to attract hummingbirds to your yard, firecracker penstemon is the perfect option. It starts blooming in late spring and continues through the summer. Each tall flowering spike is lined with long, tubular, red flowers. The leathery, lancelike leaves form a loose basal mound for long-season greenery.

Globe Mallow 

	botanical name Sphaeralcea ambigua
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 3 – 4 feet
	hardiness zones 6 – 9

The globe mallow, also known as desert globemallow or apricot mallow, is a flowering perennial native to the southwestern United States. This desert-dwelling plant develops many branching semi-woody stems for a very shrub-like appearance. By the end of the growing season, your globe mallow plant probably would look best with some pruning. Wait until well after flowering to prune so you can enjoy your plants at their finest. 

Globe mallow blooms most prolifically during the spring months. The flowers are brightly colored and highly variable, including shades of pink, orange, purple, red, and white. Butterflies and other pollinators love the flowers and you’ll love having these plants blooming in your landscape. They readily re-seed themselves so you can easily propagate them or pull out any unwanted seedlings.

Mexican Gold Poppy

	botanical name Eschscholzia californica ssp. mexicana
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 0.5 – 2 feet
	hardiness zones 9 – 11

The Mexican gold poppy is native to the southwestern United States and Mexico. It is easily started from seed and will readily self-sow in ideal conditions. This perennial wildflower loves a sunny location with sharply drained soil. If you have a wildflower garden with desert-adapted plants, this beautiful native is a must-have addition. 

Starting in early spring, the Mexican gold poppy begins its spectacular display. Each deeply golden-yellow flower is like a little burst of sunshine glowing in your garden. When you have a mass of these plants together, or interplanted with other spring-blooming wildflowers, you’re in for a real treat. The flowers attract plenty of butterflies and other pollinators. In cooler climates, grow this sunny poppy as an annual.

Parry’s Agave

	botanical name Agave parryi
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 1 – 3 feet
	hardiness zones 7 – 12

The Parry’s agave is a dramatic succulent native to Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Mexico. This heat and drought-loving plant is surprisingly adaptable and will grow in cooler climates as well, although it prefers dry heat and very well-drained soil. This is a relatively slow-growing plant that performs well in a rock garden or container garden.

Parry’s agave develops a basal rosette of tightly packed silvery green leaves. These succulent leaves are edged with sharp, red-tipped spines. Each plant can bloom once in its lifetime, sending up a towering stalk of pale yellow flower bunches. After flowering, the mother plant dies but leaves behind several pups to continue the cycle. 

Parry’s Penstemon 

	botanical name Penstemon parryi
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 2 – 4 feet
	hardiness zones 8 – 10

The bright pink flowers of Parry’s penstemon are a favorite for hummingbirds and insect pollinators. The tall spikes of tubular flowers bloom in the springtime for a splash of early-season color. During the cooler months of the year, its silvery green leaves add their own appeal to your xeriscape, rock garden, or pollinator garden.

Parry’s penstemon grows up to four feet tall, although this is primarily the flowering spikes. This is a short-lived perennial that goes dormant shortly after flowering. When the flowers and leaves die back, be sure to have some evergreen foliage plants or summer flowers growing in the same vicinity to continue attracting hummingbirds and provide continued interest for the rest of the season.

Pine Needle Milkweed

	botanical name Asclepias linaria
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 4 – 5 feet
	hardiness zones 9 – 11

The pine needle milkweed is a winner for your butterfly garden. Milkweeds are the host plants for monarch butterflies and attract a huge assortment of other pollinators while they’re blooming. This tall perennial wildflower is native to Arizona, New Mexico, and California and is right at home in the desert southwest. 

Pine needled milkweed has an upright form, each stem lined with narrow leaves. A mature, multi-stemmed plant gives the overall impression of tall green bottle bushes emerging from a central crown. This milkweed species blooms in the desert winter. Its white masses of flowers give way to ornamental, pointed seed pods that dry and open to reveal masses of soft, downy seeds that catch the wind and blow away to sprout new milkweeds. 

Prairie Smoke

	botanical name Geum triflorum
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 1 – 2 feet
	hardiness zones 3 – 8

Prairie smoke, also known as old man’s whiskers, is native to grasslands and scrublands of western North America. This unusual native wildflower is easy to grow and tolerates a variety of different conditions. Its preference is full sun with well-drained soil and plenty of space to form a dense and colorful colony.  

The nodding red flowers give way to a smoky haze of feathery pink plumes that give these plants a unique appeal. Flowers bloom in mid summer and the prominent seed heads last until mid-fall. Basal rosettes of frilly, fern-like leaves also lend character to these plants. Use prairie smoke to add both color and texture to your prairie garden mixed with other wildflowers and native grasses. 

Prairie Zinnia

	botanical name Zinnia grandiflora
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 0.5 – 1 foot
	hardiness zones 4 – 8

The prairie zinnia, also known as the plains zinnia or Rocky Mountain zinnia, is a low-growing perennial native to the southwestern and Great Plains states. It prefers full sun with dry, well-drained soil and is a great choice for your xeriscape garden. 

Prairie zinnia is a compact, mound-forming plant. It generally stays under one foot tall and looks fantastic planted along a border or walkway or in small clusters in your rock garden. These drought-tolerant plants make good erosion control along slopes, and attract plenty of pollinators to their prolific masses of flowers. 

Sand Verbena 

	botanical name Abronia villosa
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 0.5 foot
	hardiness zones 7 – 10

The sand verbena is an annual native to the desert southwest. This low-profile desert plant makes an excellent ground cover as each cluster can spread between one and two feet across. Grow several together along borders and edges to form a mound of flowering vegetation.

The brightly colored clusters of purple flowers bloom sporadically from spring through fall, attracting pollinators to your garden. The fuzzy looking leaves are soft and covered with fine hairs and provide additional texture and long-season interest. Sand verbena is a welcome addition to your native plant garden and readily self-seeds to keep the population steady year after year.

Summer Poppy

	botanical name Kallstroemia grandiflora
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 1 – 1.5 feet
	hardiness zones 8-10

The summer poppy, also called desert poppy or Arizona poppy, is an annual wildflower native to the desert southwest. While these plants closely resemble the California poppy, they are not true poppies. They do, however, look beautiful in a native wildflower garden or bird garden. 

True to its name, the summer poppy blooms in the summertime and continues into fall. These plants are easily started from seed during periods or warm, wet weather. They grow best in full sun and well-drained sandy soil. In ideal conditions, they will re-seed and naturalize so you won’t need to replant them each year. Summer poppy has beautiful bright orange flowers that attract bees and butterflies, while birds forage on the seeds during the fall and winter.

White Virgin’s Bower 

	botanical name Clematis ligusticifolia
	sun requirements Partial shade
	height 10 – 30 feet
	hardiness zones 4 – 8

Don’t neglect flowering vines in your native garden. The white virgin’s bower, also known as the western white clematis, is a twining and climbing vine that grows up to 30 feet long. It looks best growing on a trellis or along a fence or wall. When grown near shrubs or small trees, it will sprawl across this taller vegetation as it prefers to climb rather than trail along the ground.

White virgins bower produces clusters of white, fragrant flowers in the spring or summer months. It prefers moist soil and a shaded habitat. This is an ideal plant to grow along a wetland border or in a lower, moist part of your yard. In locations that are hot and dry, use mulch around the roots to help keep them moist and cool.