Chihuahuan Desert Plants: Skeleton-leaf Goldeneye

This is a small skeleton-leaf goldeneye at Franklin Mountains State Park.

The skeleton-leaf goldeneye may be one of the best drought tolerant plants to landscape with in El Paso.
This member of the sunflower family helps to add lots of color to your yard while attracting nectar loving butterflies, moths, bees and other insects. The seeds are important to small birds and the cover the plants provide helps to create shady spots for small animals including your backyard pets. Once you get this native desert shrub started you can share it with your neighbors by taking the bright-green new growth cuttings in the late spring. Then all you have to do is place them in a clean glass, change out the water every 3-5 days and then wait for the roots to grow.

The Zoo is developing pollinator gardens to encourage our community to help provide more habitats in El Paso for small animals like monarch butterflies and hummingbirds.

Skeleton-leaf goldeneye is very common in the Franklin Mountains and may be available from some local nurseries. The only reason why it is not easily seen across the city has more to do with how land is developed when the natural landscape is bulldozed rather than leaving some native plants in place.