Mesa, AZ Invasive Plant Rules: Front Yard Gardens (2026)

Section 9-6-6, Native Plant Preservation, governs landscaping in the Desert Uplands Area, defined at Mesa City Code § as the area bounded by the Central Arizona Project Canal on the west, Meridian Road and Usery Mountain Regional Park on the east, University Drive on the south, and the Tonto National Forest boundary on the north. For common areas, parkways, and medians, developers must select at least 50% of plant material from the Preferred Desert Uplands Plant List and the remainder from the Acceptable Desert Uplands Plant List, and the code separately publishes a Prohibited Plant List (including oleander, citrus, junipers, cypress, salt cedar/tamarisk, and fountain grass, among others) that governs those developer-installed landscape areas.

5 carves private yards out of that list-based control: plant materials for front and rear private yards/gardens are left to the choice of individual homeowners and their homeowners' association, with the code only encouraging, not requiring, use of plants from the Preferred Desert Uplands Plant List. The same section separately requires regular inspections for invasive plant species in common landscaped and revegetated areas, with prompt removal required to prevent spread, under § 9-6-6(I)(9)(d), but that inspection duty attaches to the developer-controlled common areas and revegetated slopes, not to a homeowner's private front-yard garden. Outside the Desert Uplands Area, Mesa's zoning code does not maintain a citywide prohibited or invasive plant list applicable to residential yards.