Katie of RunawayOctober's Profile

Just about every yard in Arizona has lantana in it. While there are other plants that are drought tolerant and will weather out the summer, it's one of few that have color. Salvia gets leggy and weed looking.

Having spent all of my childhood years planning in, around and with Lantana bushes, I honestly wouldn't count them out of your garden because they're toxic. Just watch your kids and pets like you normally do anyway. Afterall, most plants are toxic in one form or another.

Usually you can't. Solitary wasps and bees have similar habitats. Neither are territorial, and wont sting unless provoked.

They can be beneficial insects, and the sting is typically no worse than a bee. The main difference is female wasps have the ability to sting multiple times, where bees get one shot. While bees eat nectar, wasps go for protein such as flies, caterpillars and the like. I've taught my little ones that they're good bugs, but not to mess with them because they sting. The last thing I want is for them to see them as "bad bugs" and try to squish or swat them.

You can distinguish a bee filled cavity versus a wasp filled cavity though. The mud plug that female bees plug their nest with will be rough. The plug from a female wasp is smooth.

I stuffed 13 tomato plants in 13 sq ft this year, thinking that I'd lose some. Nope. 6 brandywine heirlooms, 6 romas and a sweet 100. Since it's AZ mine have been in the ground for a good 2.5 months, and the first crop should be ripening anytime now. We call my garden a jungle cause those suckers are super happy and really took over. Hopefully I can nab them before my kids do!

This is the way we go to. In Mesa, Az
http://www.americandiscountfoods.com/

@Trish - Since you have no problem with tap water and just like the carbonation of sparkling water, you could look into a soda siphon. If it does what you need it to do, you could easily save on heavy delivery charges and have less to store.

Thank you for that Tracy. I'm on the lookout for lighting for simple houseplants in areas of my house that don't get enough natural light. $80/ft seems quite excessive for that purpose.

When I worked at Home Depot, almost 10 years ago, the guys in Electrical always told me grow lights were a joke, and mainly just made the plants look better but didn't do much as far as growth goes. I'll have to look into it some more next time I'm down there.

I love the chandelier! Source?

Are there anymore pictures available to get more of a feel for how to DIY? Thanks!

Much MUCH cheaper to make yourself, especially if you have the shirts around already. Just search google for "tshirt rug how to" and there ya go. They're super easy to do.

Yeah, usually any plant that gets real leggy like that is not getting enough sun.