>Can Apache Junction be that different from Tucson, with no rain at all? Um Susan, that's like saying that Queens isn't any different from say, the Finger Lakes area.....a world of difference, believe me (and I've been to both places :) The desert has many faces, many elevations. As mentioned above, Tucson is higher than the Valley of the Sun, gets more rain, and generally is about 10 degrees cooler. Plus, Tucson is a real city, with a downtown, barrio, university and cultural events, and some of the best hiking in the SW. Tucson is very old (in fact, its nicknamed the Old Pueblo, and has among its jewels San Xavier del Bac, a 17th century mission recently restored), and for the most part has tried hard to keep its desert from being over run by development (tho a recent visit did make me cry when I drove on Contaro road to get to Ina - what are they thinking?) Without rain, Tucson is dry, but still green in a lush desert way. AJ is a 'city' with no center, no history to speak of, originally a place where the Seniors went to escape from Phoenix. And any green has been bulldozed away. And when there's no rain, its a dusty and depressing place to be. While its fine as a base to explore the superstitions, its not a place you'd want to stay for very long. As amigo says, there are some places that you might stay in. But not many. The Mesa area bordering AJ is'nt a mecca, but I have to say that Mesa is starting to come alive with its downtown area.

Sorry for the delay in response, work got busy.. :) rvird01, I bet that location by the foundation is the key. I have roses that are on the wrong rootstock that are still alive 15 years later because they were planted snug against a sidewalk and the nematodes don't bother them there. I wish I would've known to deadhead mine, they hadn't bloomed since last summer despite not dying back at all. Finally deadheaded them a couple weeks back and now new blooms are coming on. Thank you Morningloree, I have only one butterfly bush in the ground that has sort of made it. It gets morning sun, but afternoon shade. It hasn't had a new bloom since I stuck it in the ground last May. I try to water everyday for the first month or so, but for whatever reason I never got them going well. I'm tempted to dig that one up and pot it up to recover then relocate it and try another location. This time probably snug against concrete to give it a fighting chance. I'm always pretty light on Monarchs. I usually only see one or two the whole summer and all my milkweed goes unused. One of these days I may just order in some caterpillars to get them started in my yard. I love your garden, thanks for sharing. Is that pine bark? It looks a lot more natural than what I used. I think next time I'll mulch with pine straw. I just forgot it even existed and since I work at a Lowes I just picked up mulch when it went down to $1 a bag. Wallisadi, I do have aloe out in containers in the front yard, but haven't put any in the ground yet. I should though, containers are getting overfull again. I don't yet have wild coffee, wild lime or scorpion plant. I should watch for them next time I hit a plant sale. That scorpion plant seems to have blooms which look a lot like the almond plant I have, though they are different species. I bet the bees love them. Leekle2ManE, my lantana grew very quickly. I've watered it every day and it has probably doubled in size in the month or two it's been in the ground. Mine only really took off blooming in the last couple weeks, so I'll have to watch and see if I need to deadhead them to keep them blooming. Mine don't seem to be going to seed, so perhaps I don't have the real L. depressa. Mine was originally from Grandiflora nursery in Gainesville which is the one the museum there buys from for their native plant sales. But, they carry several kinds of Lantana, so mine could have been mislabeled. The poisonous problem is probaly why milkweed wasn't popular either until more recently. Tom123, I think I may have to watch and catch Biosphere at a sale then. Though, I think at this point that probably won't be until September or so, but I'll look and see. I wish I made it to Winter Garden more often. I'd like to make it there again and then over to Lukas nursery in Oviedo. I'll let you know next time I'm heading out there as I've bought more pentas than I care to count in search of the tall red ones and never have them get over 18". I'll have to try the schumanni, I have some kind of cuphea, a bright red one that was on clearance at Lowes, but I know it's not a schumanni.

I have the plant & thought I'd seen that wasp too - thought plant was called 'scorpion's tail' ? Small butterflies like it. & was thinking the wasp might be a mason wasp, but now I'm not so sureâ¦.. I'll bet if you sent the photo to UF entomology dept., they could ID it for you: nsanders@ufl.edu Here is a link that might be useful: What's that bug?

Brian, Ironically, I wasn't too bothered by the poisonous snakes when we first moved here. If I saw a copperhead or rattler, I tended to walk around it and not worry about it. After we'd been here about 3 years, though, our next-door neighbor was bitten by a copperhead....and to make matters worse, it wrapped itself around her ankle and wouldn't let go. You cannot imagine what that sweet lady went through with that copperhead bite....including being in a wheelchair for over a month. So, I became more scared of them as time went on. And, because I had been a Cub Scout leader and a Boy Scout leader when our son was younger, I was used to seeing all kinds of snakes on hikes and campouts and wasn't bothered by them. After the black rat snakes started killing all my baby chicks and keats, though, I started liking them less and less. So, here at our place, we have a snake compromise. Any snake found in the chicken coop or guinea coop is a dead snake, because it is a threat to our baby birds. Any poisonous snake found on the acre of land closest to the house is a dead snake because it is a threat to the people and pets. The remaining 13.5 acres can be a snake paradise for all I care, and the snakes there are very heavy some years. I generally stay out of the woods during snake season, which is roughly April through October/November here. However, one year I had a close encounter with a pygmy rattler in February, so sometimes that snakes are out a lot earlier than expected. And, I still like the rough green tree snakes. Last year there was one in the front yard and the cats were trying to play with it, so I covered it up with a bucket (couldn't bring myself to touch it) to protect it until the cats got bored and wandered off. Then I took the bucket off the snake and it slithered off to wherever. We also have glass lizards here that look a lot like snakes and I like them. My next-door neighbor, who's lived here all his life, is constantly warning me to watch out for the venomous snakes because he has seen so many people bitten by them over the decades. Because we are so close to the Red River, we will always have snakes, so I just try to avoid them for the most part. There's almost always snakes in my veggie garden though. The timber rattlers really do scare me. They aren't aggressive at all but my Rottweiler-Terrier mix dog, Duke, almost died when one bit him when he was 7 months old. Then I had the horrible encounter with one this summer. This year I had more snake encounters in a two-week period in the fall than I'd had in the last 2 years, so maybe this year I'll catch a break. I never have a bee shortage here, so the kiwi would be in good shape if I grew them. However, I grew up and lived my first 39 years in North Texas where everyone, especially fairly new gardeners, ordered kiwi fruit vines, planted them and then lost them the first year. Texas A&M University has long maintained that "kiwi fruit will not grow here", and I've never known anyone in Texas or in southern OK who's had any luck with them. I do know some people who've managed to keep them alive for a couple of years, but they've never gotten fruit. There's a couple of reasons why. Our August heat, which generally has some days that exceed 105 and often has several days that exceed 110, is usually just too much for it, especially since most Augusts are very dry here. Also, I have no idea if cotton root rot is a problem in soils in the Tulsa area, but it is common in our soils here in southern OK and northern TX and cotton root rot kills kiwi plants. I have a huge problem with cotton root rot in our soil and partly that is because our land used to be part of a cotton farm. So, if there is a plant I want to plant that is susceptible to cotton root rot, I have to plant it in heavily amended soil and, even then, I know the odds are against its survival. I goggled and found you the OSU Fact Sheet on Growing Kiwi in Oklahoma and linked it below. I haven't read it yet, so I don't know if it will encourage you or discourage you. : ) Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Growing Kiwi in Oklahoma