Norm, This type of raised bed planting is great and it gives you much better soil options than if you use the ground. BUT.... I hate to tell you this, but the rabbits will jump up into these containers to chow down. The birds will fly in and do the same and the squirrels and mice will climb up .... I'm sorry to tell you but the desert critters are pretty voracious and hard to keep out of planters. The best defense I know is to use a lot of chicken wire to surround everything. It's ugly and frankly, I've given it up for the most part. Now I just pick things that are not on the critter menu in order to get things growing. Here are things that haven't been eaten at my critter haven/desert garden: purple trailing lantana aloes & yuccas salvia greggi salvia clevelandii cassia bushes Mexican bird of paradise (yellow) cat claw vine Hall's Honeysuckle Rosemary False Penstemon Brittle Bush Ruellia Texas Ranger Sage Many cacti (but some are tender and tasty too!) Here are some things that are on the critter menu and so they don't grow here anymore unless drastic protection measures are taken and we're worn out doing those: Philodendron Ice Plant Elephant Food (only in a tall hanging basket) Hearts and Flowers (OK in basket) Daffodils Narcissus Tulips Roses Alyssum Pansies Sweet Peas All vegetables Mints Zinnias Sunflowers Cosmos Poppies Several milky sap Euphorbia varieties (pencil, Milk tree, etc.)

Thanks for the reminder! That site also has the "gifts that give more" charities. Here is a link that might be useful: Gifts that Give More

as the fruit falls to the ground it ripens. When the animals eat it, then the fruit ferments in their stomachs making them feel wobbly.

I understand that research facilities need to get animals for their research, but there's just something really unsettling about the idea of people turning in their pets, thinking, "Well, if no one adopts Rex, at least he'll be humanely euthanized, and go to the big grassy park in the sky." But no, instead Rex can get sold to a research facility, and spend the rest of his days in terror and pain. Are people handing their pets over told that this is a possibility, I wonder? (I couldn't bear to read through the whole article -- it was just too upsetting)