Immediately, you can remove those rings of rock around the trees. :) And kill that Palo Verde: the volunteers are usually weak-branched messy things. I would also get rid of the Cape Honeysuckle in favor of something that is more 'deserty', like another tree. It's a big green blob right there. I would start by finding some books on desert landscaping and reading them (Sunset's Western Garden book ... essential and saves a lot of mistakes). Small desert shrubs mingled with the trees, if you can keep the dogs from laying on them, will settle the trees, as will perennial wildflowers like desert marigold, brittlebrush, etc. You can harvest seeds, start them in pots and set them out when the summer rains have started to minimize water use. I do activity-based area planning. Read the article at the link below: it's what I do to clients and have them do before we start talking about picking up a shovel. After you have the activities and how much room they will get, and where, the rest gets much easier. If you need to demolish anything, do it as early as possible. Landscape as if the fence you plan is already there. To continue the landscape out past the chain link fence, just repeat the plant material and lines across the fence. Instead of a line of anything along the fence, have an open group of them falling across the fence line. Beware of Cassias - some can become invasive pests. I'm still fighting Feathery Cassia seedlings from the ones we removed 5 years ago. Stick to AZ desert natives or plants that don't have a rep for running amok. For more shade, and we AZonians do really need it, how about a trellis or arbor along the "dog walk". Check zoning and building codes, but usually an unroofed arbor is OK. http://www.flickr.com/photos/38617480@N07/3614575147/in/set-72157619486607319/ shows my west-side arbor. It's growing a Queen's Wreath and some beans right now. Here is a link that might be useful: Make your own landscape plan

ah, I see you have a post there already. For future reference... One of the easiest ways to provide your photo to be embedded into a post is to upload it onto an image hosting site such as Photobucket, Flickr, etc. That should be pretty straight forward, and the individual sites will give instructions on how to get your photos uploaded to their site when you sign up. Once your picture has been uploaded, find its image location address (URL) by right clicking on the image and copying the image location. Some sites may even provide the appropriate HTML code in a text box below the photo for your convenience. It will be the one that begins with a href=... (This code looks different than the code below, because it will actually produce a picture link instead of just a picture.) Let's say, as an example, that the address of the picture you want to post is http://somepicturesite.com/yourpicture.jpg To embed the picture into a post, use the command: img src="http://somepicturesite.com/yourpicture.jpg"> _____________________________________ If your picture is too large to fit nicely into the text page, you can add a width attribute. The command with the width attribute would look something like: img src="http://somepicturesite.com/yourpicture.jpg" width=600> _____________________________________ Another option is to use a text link which might be beneficial to people on slow connections. To do this, use the command: a href="http://somepicturesite.com/yourpicture.jpg">your text goes here/a> _____________________________________ Note that I had to use special characters to get the commands above to show up here without turning into pictures, but you can use them as shown (with the correct image web address, of course).

The maple tree that I depended on to shade the west side of the sunroom (2nd story on previous deck) has lost two major branches on its south side. I am trying to look at this as an opportunity to replace it with a food bearing tree. I need a tree that will be at least 30 or more feet. While fast growth would be good, I realize slower will product a sturdier tree. I'm south of Nashville, zone 6b slipping into 7. Any thoughts and suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks, Evelyn

Plumbago, sago palm, caladiums, tropical hibiscus, begonias, rose mallow, esperanza, ixora, mandevilla, geraniums, Areca palm, and floribunda roses. These are all in containers on my west facing patio and the sun gets there about 11 a.m.