sharon: That's not a very grower friendly looking climate. Worse than here at 4500ft and we have spring freeze injury most years. Things in Duncan are going to be pushed into bloom by warm spring days and then get frozen at night. My suggestions for fruiting plants would be jujube, pomegranate, and possibly persimmon. You could grow stone fruit but without a shelter February to April freezes would get you most years If there is a grapefruit in Clifton (3500ft elev) it must be up on a hillside. Hillsides or terraces above the valley are the best spots in AZ. At night cold air drains to the low spots. Below is a comparison of Jerome AZ to Duncan. Jerome sets on a mountain at about 5200ft elev over in central AZ. Jerome is colder day and night all year long due to higher elevation. But check out the record lows. Jerome has a two month longer growing season because of it's superb air drainage Personally I'd get out of a drunken town in AZ ASAP. Or at least never drive at night. Rural NM and AZ have a bad drinking issue. Here is a link that might be useful: Ducan vs Jerome AZ climate

HU-64...24, I'm a firm believer in going with the local trends. Zoysia is not a popular choice in PHO for whatever reasons. You can give it a try. There are varieties of all the ones you mention, and they do not all have the same characteristics, so look for zoysia installations and see what you think. In most large cities you can find various grass types in use at places like museums, zoos, and botanical gardens. I am reasonably certain that ASU uses only seeded bermuda, so I can save you the time of looking there. Their stadium grounds are separate from the general university and uses only hybrid bermuda. You can check local nurseries to see if any of them sell zoysia, and ask to see some installations. Check nurseries in/near Scottsdale, because zoysia can be expensive to maintain.

you are going to need a clearer pic.. we have to see leaves.. not pixels ... ken

Welcome to the forum, and to Arizona gardening! I think this is the MOST fun, interesting, and festive gardening climate in the U.S. Great stuff! The first thing I'd suggest is that you get your hands on some of the many good, LOCAL gardening books. They will really help give you a lot of information on different styles of gardens, and their plants, and then what those plants need. They'll also remind readers that our long, easy gardening season is autumn, winter, spring and early summer, not the way folks did things "back home". You can search this AZ forum for recommended books, and I'm sure folks will chime in with suggestions too. You'll be happiest growing plants that do well here (that applies to any climate of course, LOL), and there are TONS of leafy and non-leafy plants, plus citrus and all sorts of fun shrubs, vines and trees. Just remember that not everything here wants rich loamy soil. Most desert plants don't want a ton of organic materials in their soil, though things like roses, veggies etc do. There are a lot of great books for this area that will save you heartache, most are available at large local book stores, and all are available at the big online book sellers too, and again search the forum's archive to see various lists of books folks have suggested. Just off the top of my head here are a few: "Arizona Gardener's Guide" by formerly-local author Mary Irish "Desert Gardening" by George Brookbank. He's a bit of a curmudgeon, but the advice is great and really helps explains to gardeners how the soil, climate, watering and plants work here. "Desert Landscaping: How to Start and Maintain a Healthy Landscape in the Southwest" also by G. Brookbank. It's really great if you can get over the B&W photos. Good information that is timeless. "Plants For Dry Climates: How To Select, Grow, And Enjoy, Revised Edition" by Mary Rose Duffield "Native Plants for Southwestern Landscapes" by Judy Mielke. Don't let the "native" part discourage you--most of these plants are now very popular in the nursery trade (and can even be found at the Big Box hardware stores, plus local nurseries too). Great information on where these plants are found in nature, and how to keep them happy. If you're concerned about a plant's tolerance of our warm summers (and warm summer nights especially), check out "Heat-Zone Gardening: How to Choose Plants That Thrive in Your Region's Warmest Weather." It's a fun, interesting book that helps us weed out plants that just won't make it here (and it highlights and confirms the many that thrive here). If you want a lot of fruits and veggies, "Extreme Gardening: How to Grow Organic in the Hostile Deserts" by David Owens is good, if a bit slapsticky at times. Good information though, especially for veggie growing. Those are just some quick thoughts, but spending just a little money and time on some or all of these books will give you tons of information and entertainment, and will get you get up for a wonderful Arizona garden. Plus being on this forum will be really helpful too, and fun! So many folks here have wonderful, wonderful gardens, and there's no substitute for hands-on experience from real gardeners of course. Just for fun, I'm putting a link to my little garden's pics from this month. All of my garden photo albums are viewable, so you can scroll through them to see what's blooming when (I organize them by month and year). So many great gardeners here will be willing to help out too. Oh,and we love pics too! :) Happy gardening! Grant Here is a link that might be useful: March 2012 garden pics