George and his friend Al Weichold kept honey bees in the Phoenix, Arizona area from about 1966 to about 1992. During that time they learned a lot about how to produce honey in Arizona. One of the secrets of producing honey was to follow the "honeyflow" which is the opening of the flowers that produced the nectar that the bees turned into honey. Thus, George and Al had to know the flowering plants of Arizona and when the flowering plants would bloom. They also had to know which plants would and would not produce honey. This required Al and George to know the native plants of Arizona and the non-native plants that were introduced into Arizona. This knowledge enabled Al and George to move their bees into areas of Arizona that could produce high quality honey. George also taught High School Biology and Environmental Science from 1983 until 2003 in the Phoenix Area. Al has since moved to the El Paso area where he kept bees, until his passing, in October of 2000. George still lives in the Glendale area, in an urban neighborhood about a quarter mile from where he kept his bees. George never thought that population changes would have effected the Glendale and Peoria area as much as it has done! Glendale and Peoria have certainly grown. People now are afraid of Honeybees. Laws have been passed outlawing beekeeping in many urban areas. George often wonders; since bees are absolutely necessary for much of our food production, what would be our future without bees? Another practice that he wonders about is that over the 67 years he has lived in the Greater Phoenix Area, almost all of the very rich agricultural land has been covered with cement and buildings as the area has grown. Where will our food come from? And, do we have enough water to continue building lakes, swimming pools, golf courses, and the landscaping of our urban areas? Even though the winter of 2004 and the spring of 2005 has been one of the wettest seasons we have ever had in our recorded history, we are still considered to be in a time of drought! Until March 11, 2006 we had experienced the longest recorded period of time in the Phoenix area without rain. The weather people say we had gone without rain for 143 days! All communities in Arizona have plans in place for water rationing. Some communities already do ration water. The winter of 2007 and the early spring of 2008 have experienced a better than average amount of rain. Since the abundance of wild flowers is largely determined by the rainfall during that time period, we should have a wonderful wildflower season. We hope that you will have the opportunity to visit the desert and experience a wonderful wild flower season. What George does know for sure, is that we must make use of Xeriscape Landscaping in Arizona, to help ensure that we will have an adequite supply of water for our population. Therefore, George will present on the following pages some of what he has learned about the plants in Arizona as a Beekeeper and Biology Instructor. No attempt will be made here to present a detailed scientific page on the subject. Every plant in Arizona will not be shown. The photos and descriptions on this web page will attempt to show how native plants and some not so native plants, are used in todays Xeriscape (low water use) landscaping in Arizona. Every attempt is being made on this web page to include all plants recommended by the Arizona Municipal Water Users Association. Other xeriscape plants will also be added to this page. George hopes that these pages might simply be helpful to anyone who wants to use Xeriscape Landscaping in Arizona.