Amazing selection of plants. Helpful cashier. Lots of unique cactus and other plants, including trees. I'll be back!

They put $10 plants into larger pots, oh but wait, they put it in the bottom of the larger pot, bury it with soil. Now it's a $50 plant that has 6 inch depth root bound wad at the bottom. Buyer beware, some crummy buys, wasted time and money for failed plantings not once, not twice, too many times and I've given up. I've planted over 60 and survive and thrive rate is very high for OTHER nursery's plants, not so much for Desert Survivors. read more

I went to Desert Survivors to drop off some empty plant pots and a plant stand that I'll no longer be able to use since I'm moving. I arrived and found a couple very nice ladies who helped to take the pots and stand from my car and they were incredibly sweet. They have a huge property filled with all kinds of plants and cute decorations and designs. If you're ever in need to donate planters, pots, plant stands etc. Don't throw them away! Bring them here. They are very grateful and will accept whatever they can. read more

Desert Survivors - Donated pots and plant stand. - Nurseries & Gardening Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

When is a plant more than a plant? The answer includes a non profit providing jobs and opportunity for persons with disabilities. And to add to this highlight is the large variety of plants that are reasonably priced. Staff are friendly and helpful answering questions. read more

See all

When we finally made it here it was a great experience! Everyone was extremely friendly, knowledgeable, and willing to share or find someone there that had the knowledge to inform us about their plants, cacti , succulents, and trees! They asked all the right questions about what we were trying to accomplish with our landscaping as well what we already had in our yard, amount of sun or shade, etc, We got some great plants and stuff to add to our soil as well as some great ideas for future! Great group! Thanks all of you!tge read more

We came to look for color for the yard. Red especially. We did find a red yucca that draws Hummers. Decent yard , but not full. A Small bonus, they are a non profit , so you pay NO Sales tax. Always helps. Multiple Friendly helpers. read more

See all

Oh man, I don't know what happened to this nursery! I come down from phoenix every once in a while to stock up on native plants. This nursery used to have a huge, healthy selection of native plants. Last week I was in Tucson and stopped by to buy plants. The place was dead. Both in the sense that there was NOBODY there, except a single person working, and the plants looked terrible! The entire nursery looked like it wasn't being watered. Absolutely heartbreaking. I thought maybe it was just a rough summer, but I went to another nursery in town and the plants were all healthy and happy. I can't express how disappointed I was. It was one of my favorite places to visit, and it looked run down and unloved. read more

My first trip there - and it was the Monsoon Season. What a fantastic nursery. These people know their stuff, are eager to help, and the selection outstanding! Knowing you're helping people who do good things - bonus. read more

What can I say Kick Ass native plants with a knowledgeable staff. I like buying plants in all seasons but, winter is one of my favorite. When picking up plants during the winter, its easier to determine their hardiness. I believe in the cause they represent in keeping it native and for all the people they help. read more

this place is a little gem, i was told to go here by the lovely people over at EcoGroLLC, and i'm so glad they suggested i do so! i picked up some cacti, ones that produced fruit, and just days after purchasing my pincushion cactus had cute little fruits developing. when i was there, so many friendly people greeted me, and during checkout Bruce was such a pleasure to talk to! i was lookin to grow some black sapote, but he suggested i get white since it can handle the weather here better, and, man, am i glad he did! i've got a little white sapote tree in my backyard along with the cacti i bought. ill be returning again for canyon grape, fig, and persimmon trees! read more

Desert Survivors - Nurseries & Gardening Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

Out of the many nurseries in Tucson to choose from, Desert Survivors is a top choice to visit! If you are planning your landscaping be sure to stop here first: they offer a very wide variety of only native plants. You will be surprised by that many, many trees, shrubs, cactus, and flowers that grow natively in the Sonoran desert and will enhance your yard year round. The staff here are eager to help by offering advice and suggestions and the prices are very good for the quality of plants grown at Desert Survivors. This is even a great place to take a walk through if you are in the area as it is beautifully laid out and there is much to look at. read more

Went with a friend who was look for a plant to attract hummingbirds. Well they hooked him up very quickly and efficiently. It was near closing but everyone was eager to help. This place has native plants, so that means, you will be very likely to have them survive the harsh environment that is Tucson. read more

I got a very demeaning reply after I requested a refund for a plant. This was the fifth plant I bought from them in the last 10 years. Out of 5 only two hardly survived , two never took off and died and the last one had some damaged leaves when I bought it but one of the experts told me it would go away with drip irrigation. It didn't, the damage expanded and this time I asked for a refund. Nate have me a huge run around on the phone and after I sent him photos he wrote extremely lengthy email exaggerating every point I made and then attempted to insult my intelligence and my person because he is unable to handle a negative feedback. Nate is an absurd twit and he doesn't need to tell me my business is not welcome, I told him I was taking the loss but he insisted I sent him photos. In my view their plants looked desidely awful this time, and I almost walked away; too bad I didn't. No one wants to complaint about a charitable organization but I found it reprehensible Nate would go to the extent he went to demean me because I asked for one measly refund. I am sticking to Tohono Chul for my plants, always helpful with healthy plants that actually grow read more

I've bought 6 trees from here. They are all still doing well 3 years later. It's great to be able to ask questions about desert plants and plant care. Love the community ethic. Love being able to get native plants and other varieties that are well adapted to live here in the Sonoran Desert. read more

This is my favorite place to go when I want to buy plants for my yard. The people that work here are knowledgeable about each species. All plants here are native to the Sonoran desert. Also this is a not-for-profit organization that benefits children. The plants are sustainably and organically harvest and they do not need much water and more likely to survive compared to anything you can buy at the large chain stores with plant nurseries. read more

Desert Survivors - My favorite place to buy plants! All are native to the Sonoran Desert and it's a nonprofit that aids children. - Nurseries & Gardening Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

This is the best native plant nursery for gardeners that I have found in Arizona. And if you are interested in butterflies, native birds, and native bees, then this is probably the best source for a DIY gardener. You want a native lycIum? They had five the last time we were there. Saltbush? Several choices. Stuff not mentioned in your garden books? Oh yeah. They don't guarantee anything. And you have to do your own digging and care to get your new plants in the ground. But that's gardening. How does this little plant I bought grow in my garden? Buy it and find out. It might take a few years. Ask the employees wandering about the grounds. "Will this work in Phoenix?" "Well maybe not this one, but these other varieties might work" There may be other nurseries in Arizona in the wholesale trade that offer interesting selections to landscape professionals. And if you want to pay somebody to parachute a "garden" or a "landscape" into your corner of the earth, knock yourself out. This place is a non-profit doing good work. And the setup is a little spartan. So pay attention to the plants you select for purchase, as well as the season, and all other factors -- like whether you have time to take care of them when you get them home. Their little placards are more descriptive than I have found in Arizona regarding native altitude, sun, and water environment. We just missed the celtis pallida when we were there. But we are very happy with the eriogonum wrightii, abutilon palmeri, lyceum fremotii, larrea tridentata and others we picked up. read more

This is our go-to source in Tucson for Sonoran Desert natives. The staff are always helpful and knowledgeable, the selection is extensive, and the prices are reasonable. I especially appreciate that most plants have signs listing the botanical name, regions and elevation where they are naturally found, so one knows exactly what one's getting and what conditions it requires. (And contrary to one review, there is plenty of convenient customer parking,) Note that they are closed Sunday and Monday during their seasonal summer hours. read more

Desert Survivors is the premier native plant nursery in the Tucson area. Botanists and plant nerds of all kinds flock to this nursery to find obscure and wonderful native species that are not commercially available anywhere else. The organization has a dual mission - to provide native plants and also to provide horticultural therapy for developmentally disabled adults - a win-win model! The staff is phenomenally knowledgeable and helpful, and they are very active in the greater community. If you are looking for oleander and texas ranger, go to Home Depot. But if you want night-blooming cereus, heart-leaf limberbush, kidneywood, or twining snapdragon, this is the place for you! They have three major plant sales per year, timed to coincide with major growing seasons for our native flora - spring, monsoon, and fall. These weekends are the best time to go. This is a wonderful NON-PROFIT organization to support! read more

As others have already stated, this is a great organization to support. Ironically, other local nurseries don't always carry local plants. Instead, they carry the showy novelty plants and refer me to Desert Survivors for native plants like Desert Ironwood, Wolfberry, Desert Hackberry, Jojoba... etc. It's a shame a previous reviewer would describe their workers as being "lazy folk". It appears to me that some of the people in the yard had disabilities. These are the top clients of this non-profit organization. I researched a lot about native plants before visiting, since it was easier for me to shop for 1-gal or 5-gal plants with some background knowledge. They also carry 15-gal. The people there were EXCELLENT HELP. Very respectful, knowledgeable, patient. Thank you all. read more

What a disappointment. Nobody ask us for help. Most areas off limits to customer many signs saying employees only. Closest parking space is for employees not customers. read more

Desert Survivors - Nurseries & Gardening Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

This place is a gem! They sell inexpensive native plants and employ very helpful staff, who will give you all the information you need (and more) to have a thriving desert garden. When I moved here, I knew nothing about gardening--let alone desert gardening--and most of what I know came from the kind and knowledgeable staff at Desert Survivors. Talk to the staff if you're having a difficult time making out what these small scraggly plants will look like once they're established in your garden. read more

My first visit to Desert Survivors today. Awesome experience. Friendly, helpful, knowledgeable staff. Love the fact it is a non-profit organization. Disabled men and women are given the opportunity to work and get a paycheck from the profits of the sales of cactus, plants ... I will definitely come back and buy native, local cactus and plants from Desert Survivors. Keep up the good work read more

If you are hoping to find Local AZ Plants to add to your xeriscape, here's the motherload of flora! Unique non-profit outfit nursery that offers indigenous southwestern plants while providing employment for persons with disabilities. WIN-WIN! read more

Shop here because it is a non-profit that helps people with disabilities. A lot of the plants look half dead when you buy them, but they will come back with some TLC. They dont have much of a selection either. read more

To the person with the sad experience returning a plant: First let me say that any nursery offering plant returns is taking a chance because so many things can go wrong. From the moment that plant is loaded into the care of the buyer, all bets are off. There are just too many variables out of the seller's control. To name a few: genetics, location, soil type, too much/too little water, too much/too little sun, too hot, too cold, too windy, didn't loosen the plant roots, planted too deep/too high, critter attacks, ants, time of year planted, and I'm sure I forgot to mention something. The better question is...how is it possible anything makes it in our harsh desert environment. My sister and I lost plants this summer (2020) that should never have died but the excessive heat was just too much. First accept that plants are just like people and not all of them will make it . And for that small disappointment of losing a plant, true, I don't like it either. But I've had plants die from every Tucson nursery. Enjoy your gardening efforts in our beautiful desert and appreciate everything that Desert Survivors does for both plants AND people. read more

I love this place. Not only do they have a huge array of desert plants, including many that are native to SE Arizona, Pima County, and even Tucson specifically, but there were a good range of sizes and prices as well. The gallon-size plants start at 6 or 8 bucks but the prices can go quite a bit higher as the green things get bigger. There's a cactus and succulents section, and the rest of the grasses, shrubs, and trees are laid out in tidy rows with identifying signs. The staff is friendly and helpful, but they're also happy to leave you alone to wander around sniffing, poking, and reading about the plants. Their web site (www.desertsurvivors.org) is very good, too; they have an awesome downloadable guide to all the plants they sell with information about where they're from, what conditions they're suited for, and the kinds of critters they attract, if any. The plants looked like they are doing well; remembering of course that desert plants tend to look rather scraggly and unassuming while they're getting started. I did once go for a creosote bush but left empty-handed, but this was just because they only had the larger $20 plants and I was looking for the cheap little ones. To be fair, though, they had just had one of their big, much-attended plant sales and I think that wiped out some of their inventory. At any rate, a helpful staffer showed me a whole section of wee creosote bushes, just waiting to get big enough for sale, in the "Employees Only" area. My only warning is that, if you choose a plant based on the information on the sign by the plant, be sure that the abbreviation of the plant's latin name (written on the side of each pot) matches the name of the plant on the sign--sometimes plants are not put back in the right place and it's easy enough to grab the wrong one if you're not careful. Adding to my enthusiasm for Desert Survivors is that it not only provides all of these great (mostly native) plants that thrive here without requiring an obscene waste of water, it is also a non-profit that serves both adults and children with disabilities. How cool is that?! read more

Wonderful nursery with all native plants and trees. They are very helpful and took us around looking for exactly what we wanted and gave us suggestions! Going back today for more! read more

It's not exactly great. Thousands of native plants, yes. Some beautiful grasses. The place just looks like it's run by lazy folk. Many plants weren't doing too well. Most of the labels were unreadable. I expected so much more! read more

One of my favorite nurseries in town. Carries native species that you can't find anywhere else. Prices are reasonable and the staff are very knowledgeable. The labels on the plants/pots are frequently faded, however. It helps to have some knowledge of local flora and an idea what you want before you go. The set-up is strictly no-frills which I like, but may be disappointing to people accustomed to commercial nurseries. No wind chimes, garden gnomes, planters, gazebos, pansies or tulips here. read more

LOVE this nursery!!! I regularly drive from Phoenix to Tucson with trailer in tow, and fill up on all the amazing plants that I can only get here. My landscape is starting to fill in with beautiful, interesting, tough, low water use plants. I can't imagine what the reviewer below could be talking about regarding the selection not being big: it is huge, if what you are looking for is tough, cool desert plants The staff is amazingly helpful, and friendly and very knowledgeable about both the plants, and the animals and insects that depend on them. I get excited every time I get a chance to go! read more

I visited Desert Survivors Native Plant Nursery for the first time today and they were friendly, helpful, and affordable! I highly recommend them (esp. to beginners like me) and will be visiting again soon! read more