My father-in-law has one in a pot on his front porch in central Tucson. It is doing fine. The gardens at Arizona Center (NW corner of Van Buren & 4th ST) have a grove of these plants at the south-east end. They are in filtered light under date palms. I don't know what they do to them, but they hardly ever bloom and they don't fill in the gaps between each plant. They just sort of exist. Dietes vegeta http://www.desert-tropicals.com/Plants/Iridaceae/Dietes_vegeta.html

Hardy pampas grass (Erianthus or Ravenna grass), for sure! It's absolutely stunning when it blooms. I'd also like a porcupine grass (green with horizontal yellow banding), good old maiden grass (Miscanthus spp.), some type of blue grass (Heavy Metal?) and one of the dwarf types - Hamelin maybe, or the one they call "bunny tail". If it was a more tropical island, some purple pennisetum. Oops. That's six. Oh, well! I'm not a real daylily fanatic, but I think I'd like some of the old-fashioned "lemon liles" that came with my house... they have a darker-green leaf, lovely lemon-yellow flowers that are fragrant. I'd also like some little "Happy Returns", since they bloom all summer but are a true yellow rather than Stella-gold. Let's see... there are always about a half-dozen daylilies that turn my head when they bloom, but I don't remember the names. Prairie Blue Eyes, maybe? And maybe a pink from the "Siloam" gang. That's only four, but maybe my sixth grass will make up for it!

Hi! I may have an answer, and possibly a solution to your problem. Compacted soil is common in the southwestern U.S., and could be caused by a number of reasons. The usual culprit is calcium carbonate, which forms a hardpan and prevents water from percolating down into the soil. What you have done, by digging a hole in the hardpan for your calla lilies, is create a bowl in which the water sits, and cannot drain. The calcium carbonate is preventing drainage from that hole, and thus, your callas really are getting too much water. There are several solutions to your problem. 1. Dig down below the hardpan (or caliche as it's known in New Mexico). The hardpan may be a few inches thick or it may be a few meters thick. You won't know until you punch through it. If you've got the time (and the constitution), get yourself a pickaxe and start chipping away. If not, then hire someone to do it. Hopefully, it won't be very thick. The hole you punch doesn't have to be large. It just needs to be big enough to allow water to percolate down through the caliche and into the subsoil below. 2. Another method, which I prefer, and have used, is to build a raised bed with stones (or with timber or some other material.) Fill the bed with eight to 12 inches of good topsoil (you can buy a bag of topsoil for a few dollars at any gardening supply store). Mix in some compost (you can get some at the same place you buy the topsoil). Plant your callas in this mixture, and cover with mulch (again, same place). The mulch will help keep moisture in the soil, keep the soil at an even temperature, and prevent weeds. 3. Try planting them in containers. Here is a link that might be useful: Desert Gardens

Welcome to the area! I live in Franklin--not downtown but northwest of the city. We have an acre lot and the soil has lots of clay in it. Clay can be a rich soil, but it does need good amendments to get it well drained. When you get moved, be sure to post and let everyone know. Gardeners are very generous at sharing plants. We have a Middle TN Plant Swap twice a year, spring and fall. You can always post questions about particular flowers/shrubs/trees and you will get quick answers from extremely knowledgeable people. I grow lots of different varieties, even some tropicals. You will find that the climate here is great in that we can grow such a wide assortment of plants. Yes, we do have heat and HIGH humidity, plus our share of pests. I know Japanese beetles were mentioned in an earlier post. After having literally seeing thousands of them eating my plants for the past 4 summers, this summer I had very few. No matter what climate you live in there will be pluses and minuses. I think the +'s far outweigh the -'s here in Middle TN. Ann