Tempe, AZ Invasive Plant Rules: Prohibited Species (2026)

Tempe City Code Section 29-46, in Chapter 29's Article III governing trees and landscaping in public rights-of-way and parks, makes it unlawful to plant eucalyptus, elm, ficus nitida, willow, cottonwood, or poplar trees in any public right-of-way, with a short list of eucalyptus and elm cultivars carved out as exceptions: eucalyptus microtheca, papuana, krusena, formanii, erythrocorys, spathulata, and torquata, and the elm species ulmus parvifolia. The same section separately prohibits planting or replacing pollen-producing olive trees (olea europaea) or mulberry trees (morus alba) anywhere in the right-of-way, a rule aimed at reducing airborne pollen rather than water use, since it applies on top of the water-conservation species list in Section 29-39.

The ban is enforced by the Public Works or Transportation and Sustainability Director, who under Section 29-40 has general technical and supervisory control over all planting, placement, and removal of trees and shrubs in rights-of-way and parks. Section 29-47 gives the same office authority to declare an overhanging or encroaching tree or shrub, prohibited species or not, a public nuisance and to remove or trim it if it endangers public life, health, safety, or property, and bars planting any tree with a mature height over twenty feet directly under a public utility overhead line.