Lucky, Here is why I am negative on Simmons......this was my negative report I made at that site we are not allowed to mention. This is my second time ordering from Simmons. The first time was 2 years ago and ordered 10 bare root Kiowa blackberry plants. I had ordered them well before the shipping season and because I am in Florida I was one of the first orders shipped out. When I received the plants I was very disappointed in the quality as the plants were small and worse 3 of 10 had no roots at all and they were very dry. I emailed the company my complaint and they responded quickly. I emailed them a picture of the plants and they apologized and blamed it on brand new diggers. They sent me out another ten plants for free and those were great. Fast forward two years..... I had a row of Ouachita and Natchez as well as the Kiowa and was disappointed in the flavor of the first two so decided to tear them out and replace them with 2 more 10 plant rows of Kiowa. I learned my lesson last time so this time waited to order so the diggers would be experienced. On January 8th I called Simmons and placed an order for 20 Kiowas. The plants arrived today in good shape and was happy with the size and condition. I would rank 4 of the plants as superb 10 as ok and 3 as so so. Now if you add that up you will get the problem...ordered 20 received 17. Ordered from the company twice and both times disappointed....no attention to detail. How hard is it to count to 20? There are other sellers online to buy from.

Hi, What a fun project. I hope you will keep us posted and post some photos of your developing pond. I did a little search and came up with a few websites that have some good information. There is a Phx. Pond Society that has some info on thier site, and also an a website for AZ Aquatic Gardens that sells supplies for ponds and I bet you could contact them for info specific to AZ ponds. As for plants and direct sun. AZ sun is much more intense than the average direct sun in most the the US. I know this because I grew up in Phx. then went to work as a travel nurse after college (thus gardening in all different parts of the US) and then returned back to AZ. If you put certain plants in direct sun here in the summer they will fry. Native plants and things like bougainvillea that require fun sun are fine. It seems that many fdrought tolerant plants will do well in full AZ sun. Most tropicals that require humidity, especially those with large leaves seem to do better with a little afternoon shade. Large leaved plants (like elephant ears etc)lose alot of moisture from thier leaves and will fry in the hot dry direct sun and climate. Give them a little shade and humidity they do better. Some canna can do well with some full sun but I have found many of them do much better with afternoon shade, epecially the white variegated ones and the dark/vivid colored ones. My tropicanas leaf color will definitely fade out in full sun. It also depends what is around the plant -like say gravel, cement, block walls etc will reflect and hold heat making direct sun situations worse. Now in the winter this could work to your advantage-In summer...certain death for some plants. One thing I have found with my tropicals is to slowly acclimate (by keeping them in pots for a while, I can move them slowly into more sun and see what works. If you watch them and see signs of sunburn it it too much and you can always move them back into the shade etc. AZ Aquatic Gardens http://www.azgardens.com/index.php Here is a link that might be useful: Phoenix Pond Society

Valspar has a color called "Silver City." It is a nice gray with just a smidge of blue to it. It you have a nice texture and use semi-gloss, it's shimmery. Looks great in my little boy's room, which has zero texture. And I had extra, so I painted my bathroom with it too! (That;s where I found the shimmer!) Looks great with all colors, especially browns and primary colors. I can look at my chip books and see what I can come up with if you're still looking.

Pure Performance egg is my favorite. It's not shiny but it has slip. However, darker colors do show up a smidge shinier. Which is normal because that's what colorant does but it's still not too shiny. SW's Cashmere lo lustre is my second favorite. Not as much slip as PP but I still find it pretty durable to clean. It also touches up nicely with a dampened then dipped sponge brush. Multiple thin coats, never a fat coat. Close second/third is Aura matte. If all else fails, you can touch it up. Again dampened then dipped sponge brush works best. Multiple thin coats, never a fat coat.