An impossible rose in my climate. But if I could grow it I would pair it with the clematis Luther Burbank which I do grow. It was raised in the Soviet Union in the middle of the cold war and I have always wondered how the breeders were allowed to honour an American hybridizer at that time. It is a very good dark violet late clematis with yellow anthers, one of my absolute favourites. Here is a link that might be useful: Luther Burbank clematis

Cat....I think I stick to tried and true entirely too much. I think I should be trying to find something a little different to grow like you and Bill. I've never heard of guinea hen flowers. I do like toad lilies but I tried one and it didn't make it through my winter. I hope you will post photos later. Bill...I never saw a slug in my yard until last year. We had a lot of rain that wouldn't let up and they started showing up. Where do they come from, out of nowhere? [g] You remind me of me... when I can't sleep in the summer, I will get up and go out in my pjs with the flashlight and a paper cup and look for earwigs, which I hate! They seem to love me for some reason. Just the same I enjoy being out there at that hour. You get to see all the night creatures and some of the fragrant plants make the trip worth it. And if there is a moon out, a warm breeze and it's very quiet, it's almost magical! And you can't see all your mistakes at night. [g]

My knee-jerk response is that your tree has not bloomed/fruited because it's grown from seed (one online source claims at least 10 years from seed to fruit). Any little 5-gallon grafted avocado would have bloomed/fruited it's first year in the ground. Of the two potted trees I have, one is only about 1/2 inch in diameter, but still flowers profusely each spring. So although I don't have any experience gardening in Yuma, my guess is that the climate is not what's inhibiting your success with avocado, but rather the particular plant you have. According to the literature, whatever avocadoes a seed-grown plant might produce will not necessarily be very tasty either. I would just go spend the $25 for a nice 5-gallon avocado from Lowes or Home Depot. You also might look into grafting some good varieties onto the branches of your existing tree.

I'm hesitant to use chop sticks because when I would use them for tarantulas (to give the arboreal species something to make a nest against) and they would get all moldy. I'm not sure if they would mold in this application but straws are easily available and don't mold for sure.