Garden Tour de Bird is an opportunity to explore landscapes that utilize plants native to arid environments, specifically the Sonoran Desert. The event features residences, parks and commercial properties within an easy driving distance providing the flora that not only provides food and cover, but also the native insects and other wildlife that complete the web. These properties are satisfying to people as well! The tour is a self-guided excursion to explore these habitats and learn from property owners and experts about ways to reorient your yard to our unique ecosystem.
Our 2024 tour revived this event, which had been staged six years in a row before the pandemic. Although we have not yet set a date, we expect to repeat the event sometime in 2025-26. We are recruiting now for the planning committee! If you would like to join, please email us at [email protected].
Why garden with natives?
Landscaping your yard with native plants will conserve precious water and save you money in addition to helping our beautiful Sonoran Desert birds survive. Non-native tropical plants can be beautiful, but they are of limited value to Arizona’s wildlife, which evolved alongside desert plants that provide the right seeds and insects.
Unfortunately, most of us have non-natives such as Bermuda and rye grass, oleanders, lantana and date palms in our back yards – plants that do not provide the food and cover our desert birds need.
Transitioning to a yard that looks like home to Anna’s Hummingbirds and other Sonoran wildlife may appear daunting, but help is available!
Homeowners whose yards are on the Garden Tour de Bird have successfully made the change. These homes show off the beauty of native and low water gardens, and you will learn how the homeowners created them.
Your yard can become essential habitat
Bird populations have dropped precipitously in the last 50 years, in large part due to development. Conservation groups like Audubon work hard to preserve land that is critical to bird survival, but birds need more.
Your yard can be an oasis in our urban landscape, beautiful and healthy for birds and humans.
