Hello and welcome to the forum. We had a discussion about this a while back and I bookmarked it, follow the link below. - Well, time does fly, the discussion is from 2010 so some of the links in the link may not work. I also receintly posted the following at another forum: Pioneer Landscape also sells a good product (Sandy Loam) and may be more convenient. Singh is Saturday's only and open just a few hours. (NEC of 101 and Thomas). It's best to mix these products with some native soil. imo, they are not designed to be used alone, although that is not what the sales person will tell you. :-\ Today hubby went and picked up 'Mulch Mix' from Preach Building Supply in Sunnyslope. $14.50 for 1/2 yard. Good luck with the garden! Here is a link that might be useful: Bulk Soil in the Valley

Hi ccarroll, There are dozens of choices available for shrubs or flowering perennials for the front of your home. Many are included in the FREE booklet Landscape Plants for the Arizona Desert available from your city water conservation office and most nurseries. The best news is that this publication is now on line and has a searchable database so you can select by flower color, height, litter, heat and cold tolerance, etc. There are lots of full color photos too. Just follow the link below. Here is a link that might be useful: Landscape Plants for the Arizona Desert

You are serious. OK, so here's another option, wholesale. Not mixed retail/wholesale places like Elgin Nursery, but not open to the public type places They'll say "Wholesale Only" and they mean it. Places like Arizona Wholesale. These can be the growers themselves or a place like MV but just for professional landscapers. Disclaimer: My experience is in CA, but I think it's the same here. Their hours are normally limited. I've never seen any kind of minimum purchase. Normally they have a price list they can give you, or email you one (how's that for easy comparison shopping). Many things aren't labelled very well so you have to know your plants, which sounds like you do. If they ask just say you're a landscape designer, there's no license for that. That's what I was and sounds like what you're doing too, just for yourself. Nothing shady about it, it's the truth. And I've been surprised that a designer is sometimes given an additional discount, higher than any other trade. Sometimes they ask for a business card. They're find if you don't use them. I never did. Have a business name ready, anything will do. Easiest is your name followed by "Designs". Perfectly legal, you don't have to register it unless you're actually selling a service which you aren't. You can at least look around. If you decide to buy you have to have a resale certificate. You need to either find someone who has one or get one. They're surprisingly easy and fast to get, free I think. No business license is required. Use your SSN as the business's federal tax id which is completely legal. You'd be a "sole proprietorship" which is a valid business. When you purchase you don't pay sales tax. You do have to send the sales tax amount directly to the state, very short form. In CA I only had to file the form when I actually had something to pay in that quarter. The wholesaler reports the purchase so they already know how much you owe, so the form was basically, "Plants $XXX.XX". OK, now that I typed it all it seems complex. But it's pretty easy. And the certificate gets you into all kinds of other places too. For example in retail title stores I've gotten up to a 25% discount as a Designer. That was better than $500 one time. All perfectly legal, no scam. Your purchase is reported to the state, you do have to pay the sales tax. Just a way of getting at a better selection of plants...normally. And by selection I don't just mean a lot of plants. I mean plants in stages you can't find at any retail place. And I've always liked the employees waaaaay better. Many times you'll be talking to the owner, or employees who've worked there for years. They're 100% focused on plants. No wind chimes, pots, etc. None of them are sales people. No hovering. When ready for your selections they'll normally have a cart and pick them up for you.

In my experience, seed is difficult at best & shade is the worst thing you can do to bermuda, so you have quite a problem there. I don't want to say its a waste because I obviously haven't tried this blend, but is it maybe mixed with a different type like a rye or fescue? Supposedly celebration bermuda is the most shade-tolerant, but it's only available as sod--I think that's the route I'd go, but it is certainly more money.