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

I of the Zoning Ordinance, current as of the May 2026 update, sets out a preservation and salvage protocol for native plants indigenous to the Sonoran Desert, including Acacia, Mesquite, Cercidium (Palo Verde), Ocotillo, Cholla, Bursage, Hedgehog Cactus and Barrel Cactus. Every development application must submit a Landscape Plan that rates each existing plant as high, medium or low salvageability. A plant rated high must be preserved in its original location or salvaged and transplanted within onsite landscaped common areas, graded landscape tracts, or the front yards of residential lots.

Medium and low rated plants go into a salvage pool, with at least fifty percent of that pool reused onsite. Plants determined transplantable are tagged and color-coded before any work begins: red tape marks plants approved for destruction, blue tape marks plants staying onsite, and a third color marks plants headed to another site. No salvage crew may start moving or removing a tagged plant until the Town's Planning Administrator has personally inspected the site and approved the start of salvage operations. Salvaged plants held in a temporary nursery pending relocation must run on automatic drip irrigation and receive fertilizer to promote plant health, and any mistletoe infestation must be cleared from a plant before it is relocated.

The ordinance separately protects native plants that the Arizona Department of Agriculture classifies as protected species, requiring those to be salvaged and relocated onsite rather than destroyed when they sit in an area cleared for grading and are found to be transplantable.