Queen Creek, AZ Landscaping Rules: Native Plants (2026)

As a Sonoran Desert community in the Phoenix Active Management Area, Queen Creek leans heavily on native and desert-adapted plant material. The Town's Residential Turf Conversion Incentive Program requires new plantings to come from the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) Low-Water-Use/Drought-Tolerant Plant List, and requires a minimum of 30% plant-canopy coverage at maturity for the converted landscape. The Town publishes free Landscape and Watering Guides to help residents choose desert-appropriate species. Beyond encouragement, the legally binding rules on native plants are at the state level. Arizona's Native Plant Law (A.R.S. 3-906), administered by the Arizona Department of Agriculture, protects native species and regulates their salvage and movement: a saguaro cactus more than four feet tall moved or salvaged 'from other than its original growing location' requires a permit, tag and seal from the department, with an exception allowing a landowner to move protected plants among their own properties if the plants are not offered for sale. So a Queen Creek homeowner is free to plant native and desert species (and is encouraged to), but harvesting, selling, or relocating protected native plants off-site can require state permitting. For new development, AMA Management Plan requirements on low-water-use landscaping and landscape water budgets also apply.