High Country Gardens, in Albuquerque, specializes in plants (including grasses) for xeric landscapes. Check them out. They also have a sale going on ornamental grasses right now. You can't go wrong if you use grasses native to the desert environment, although many of them are not very attractive: Alkali sacaton (Sporobolus airoides) Indian ricegrass (Achnatherum hymenoides) Needle and thread grass (Hesperostipa comata) Plains lovegrass (Eragrostis intermedia) Sand dropseed (Sporobolus cryptandrus) Sideoats grama (Bouteloua curtipendula) Most of these can be grown from seed. www.curtisseed.com www.graniteseed.com www.pawneebuttesseed.com This information is from The University of Arizona Cooperative Extension. Call the Master Gardener line in the Cottonwood office at 646-9113 ext. 14 or E-mail them at cottonwoodmg@yahoo.com Here is a link that might be useful: High Country Gardens

I think that as long as its humid they can handle a lot of heat. But in the tropics temperatures never or very rarely exceed 100F. 98f in Florida is a very serious situation. Coconuts really dislike dry heat, but if a coconut palm is in afternoon shade and misted, it can handle 115F. I think anything warmer and you would probably be cooking it! Good luck!

Changing my fan speed last year (it was set on the highest) combined with a much friendlier weather pattern this year. My humidity is in the 48-52 range. Last year I had it in the high 60's! Last year the winter/spring were incredibly wet. Even my basement has lower humidity this year, so I think the weather had a lot to do with it. I have conventional ac, but it was ME who figured out that the wire that was hooked up was for the highest fan speed when ac was in high (I have multi speed, not variable speed). I told the tech that I thought the wires should be switched because my fan was set too high, my blower is sized for my heater-which is bigger than my ac. FIgured it out by reading this board and learning that too fast cfm means less time for moisture to be removed, then I READ THE MANUAL. Much like the OP has done. I showed the tech (the experts they sent out when the first guy had no clue). This year my doors aren't sticking. I think this is the least they've ever stuck (in the summer). Sometimes I think it's TOO dry (according to my throat/nose in the morning) but it might be allergies. Yes, Homeowners shouldn't mess with things, but if we do we need to be sure to document what the original settings were so we can fix our fix if it doesn't work. (take a photo, or draw a diagram) Some of the charts and diagrams are pretty easy to understand. I wouldn't touch anything if I weren't certain. My humididty might be even lower if we kept our garage doors closed all day and if we shut the front door. We let the dog look out the storm door, but it's a pretty good seal.

Thank you both! My understanding is that heat strips give 1 unit of heat per unit of electricity (thus 100% efficient which is indeed misleading), but that heat pumps give 2.5 to 3.5 units of heat per unit of electricity. Would you agree with that? "Staged heat strip operation would be preferable to full On only"...does that mean what's preferable is working like an electric furnace where strips cycle on and off, controlled by a 'brain', as opposed to just being either on or off? This is a redo of an old home—nice insulation in attic and walls but none in crawl space; ducts are in ceiling. A heat pump thermostat is installed; it has to be turned to 'emergency' to get heat. I thought it needed a heat pump switched out for the AC only but good to hear a pro say it :) I think the bills with the strip heat are going to be exorbitant.