My husband and I have a house in OKC & one in Norman. The house in the city has horrible...I mean HORRIBLE mosquitos. Not big ones mind you, but tons of them! In Norman, there is a big pond nearby & we usually have mosquitos early in the summer & then they get less and less (its the ticks & such that never let up). I attribute the difference to the fact that in Norman, there is the pond & a lot more wilderness to be had. In other words, there is a natural control. More than anything else in the air around our house in Norman would be the constant zoom-zooming of dragonflies. And last year there were quite honestly CLOUDS of dragonflies. Beautiful creatures...and I think the MAIN REASON mosquitoes aren't that bad at my place. I'm sure there are tons of sites on how to encourage dragonflies to your place. I would suggest doing THAT and using DEET spray on yourself (don't forget the ticks!) until the dragonflies really get going.

Agreed with Dave on all points, i've seen plant toxicity after a strong Neem concoction was applied. It does not do too much for bacterial spot on peppers in my experience (i alternated Neem for at least 2 years in the past, it was def better than using nothing though). It will kill Japanese beetles after they've ingested sprayed pepper leaves. As for Fungus gnats, i've had previous encounters in my seed trays. The most long lasting solution i've tried is Mosquito Dunks. Break one apart into a gallon of water, shake well & let it sit overnight, then soak your potting soil thoroughly. It takes a couple of weeks and multiple soakings because of their two week life cycle, but you'll never see them again. Dunks employ a certain bacteria so if your tap water is heavy with chlorine/chloramines then neutralize it first with a few drops of lemon juice (Ascorbic acid or Sodium Ascorbate, etc). Steve

@texasranger2, The place where the mosquitoes are the worst there none of that is present for the parts that we control but it borders three to four other properties that we have no control over. The biggest problem was that the mosquitoes were attacking the indoor dogs, one in particular, when they were outside. We started doing things to treat/repel the mosquitoes from the dog and this is going to be an additional measure. It did cross my mind about only being able to control our side of the fence/property but I hoped the plants would serve as a barrier/deterrent, which may be reasonable but one of the properties does have a lot of overgrowth and the odds are fairly high that there is standing water off our property but near where the dogs roam, so as I write this it is becoming clearer that the parts I have no control over are more of an issue than I initially thought. @ken_adrian, Interesting point about them knowing what to avoid because I have foxglove seeds and was very disappointed when I read that they are toxic. I have a few large/tall containers and am considering adding the foxglove as a companion plant but I am still looking into if and how much that will mitigate the risk. @mattp321, I will look into those two plants. @floral_uk , They are car tires. They are now covered in leaves so you really can't see what's in them. If necessary I will remove excess catnip, mint, and oregano to make space. You may be right that I will have to make the repellent. When I read about the repellent properties of catnip, I read that it was better than citronella and assumed that all that was needed was the plant but I don't know now, maybe even with citronella you have to actually use parts of the plant to make repellent.

Some input from a long-time rose grower in hot Phoenix area. I am fortunate to live in an older part of town where the soil is good due to house being on land that was farmland previously (probably cotton). It is clay but once enriched with compost and other goodies is quite good soil. On the (endless) housing developments on the edge of town where they have torn up the desert to build, the soil is terrible. I've also known people to try to garden in areas north closer to mountains and it is rocky, rocky, rocky. I don't know if I could ever get anything to grow in that! I grow mostly old garden roses but also some hybrid teas and floribundas, etc. There are many that do well here: Fragrant Cloud, Love Song, Marmalade Skies, Iceberg, Perfume Delight, and many more. OGRs: teas, chinas, and bourbons generally do well here. Teas especially; they are quite easy to grow. I would advise you to take the opportunity to grow teas as they are wonderful roses and you are lucky you can grow them (zone). I really try not to plant anything after February (March at latest) so the roses can put on a root system before the heat begins. I often don't follow my rule on this because I get tempted by something and buy it late and then I have to work hard to keep it alive during the summer. It is usually the first year that most roses are at risk for dying in heat. I use drip irrigation (supplemented by hand-watering for those first year roses). I use beach umbrellas to temporarily shade some plants during the summer, mostly during their first year. I have many roses that are planted in my southern-facing front yard that get little shade in the summer and they do ok. I don't expect blooms between May and late September/early October due to heat. But, I get blooms the rest of the year, except maybe late December/January if if is fairly cold. I have even "forgotten" (neglected) to water some teas on the side of my house for the whole summer and they survived. Established roses can go for quite a while without water (well, maybe just teas). Hope this helps learning to grow roses in hot, dry climates. They do very well here. They grow to be monsters!