The Southwest Native Plant Primer: A Talk and Book Signing with Jack Dash

Join the Santa Fe Botanical Garden and the Native Plant Society of New Mexico (Santa Fe Chapter) for an engaging evening with Jack Dash, co-author of The Southwest Native Plant Primer. This talk will explore how gardeners—at any skill level—can make informed, regionally appropriate plant choices that support biodiversity and respond to the realities of a warming, water-limited climate. Spanning landscapes from New Mexico and Arizona to southern Utah and Colorado, the book highlights both the diversity and shared ecological patterns of Southwest flora, offering practical, science-based guidance for sustainable gardening. This comprehensive guide introduces a diverse selection of 235 native wildflowers, grasses, vines, cacti, and trees suited to gardens across New Mexico and the broader Southwest. Following the presentation, Dash will be available for a book signing. Jack Dash is a horticulturalist and writer based in Tucson, Arizona. A graduate of Prescott College, Jack is a board member of The Arizona Native Plant Society and co-editor of its biannual publication, the “Plant Press Arizona”. He is the Gardens and Facilities Manager at Tohono Chul, a 49-acre botanical garden where he oversees horticulture, infrastructure, plant propagation, and retail nursery sales. Jack is an advocate for ecologically-based urban landscaping and is a frequent contributor to the “Desert Plants” video segment on Arizona Public Media. He has contributed articles on the topic to a variety of publications and his first book, “The Southwest Native Plant Primer” was published by Timber Press in July 2025. Jack is the co-creator of “Atascosa Borderlands” an annotated floral study and visual storytelling project centered on the culture and ecology of the Atascosa Highlands in southern Arizona. This project can be viewed at https://www.atascosaborderlands.com/, and a book version of the project will be published by Timber Press in November, 2027. To purchase a book in advance please…