Faces East.

Sea buckthorn trees all over. A Meyer Lemon tree, two willow trees, more loofahs, that bird house gourd we just pulled down last nite, zinnias all over, basil all over, zucchini, [2 plants], mrytle bushes that are struggling to live, a butterfly bush that's finally growing. horsetail, weeds, lots of purslane weeds which can also be used in salads, comfrey, neem trees in pots, and a plumeria that if it doesn't bloom this year, it's gone.

Janine

Your yard sounds really neat. However, I don't get why you have loofahs outdoors??

What area of Phoenix do you live in?

It's so hard to keep plants alive in AZ this time of year. Pretty much have to have a cactus garden. I'm amazed you have so much growing! We had oleanders that grew sooo tall.

Dianne, I'm in the 'weird section they haven't named yet'
I-17 and Peoria. Near the Metrocenter Mall.

Yes, oleanders love the heat here and are SO poisonous.

We have aluminet over the trees, which is also over the zinnias and basil now. And we did mist, but the calcium from the water was settling on the leaves so we stopped that. Now we're waiting for a guy to call about a mister pump he has, so we can buy it and set up the mister system. Man, Steve does a lot of work here!

Meredith, the loofahs grow on a vine. They will grow anywhere the summers are hot and long enough for the fruit to set. I didn't get them started early enough, there is no flowers on them yet, dunno if we'll have loofahs or not. Hope so. They take a LOT of water. And we pay for water here. Never did in Calif. that was an eye opener. But I sell them on the site. They are a great learning tool for kids. They can peel them, and shake the seeds out and grow them themselves. They are quite fun. And you can also use them in the shower/bath.

Ok, I guess I was confused -- I know the word "loofah" as a sort of abrasive bath sponge -- never knew they were any kind of plant you could grow.

I know exactly where you live! I remember when Metrocenter first opened. Malls sure have changed since then. The higway to Prescott used to be two lanes! I'm showing my age here.

I don't recognize most of the plants you've mentioned but then, when living there, I didn't do much yard work. We did have misters but for the dog! It was too hot when she was outside otherwise. Not that she stayed outdoors that often. She'd sunbathe for a while and then, come back inside to enjoy the A/C.

Thats funny and when we were having the devilish hot weather, I'd open the front door and the dogs would come a running, stick their noses out, turn around and come right back in, looking up at me as if to say, "are you nuts?"

Our dog would sunbathe till she would get a heatstroke. Her tongue hung out the side of her mouth and she'd pant like a Doberman ( she was a miniature wire-haired Dachshund). We had to always watch out for her, before it was too late and had to carry her inside. She was the cutest most easy going dog I've ever known. It's like she didn't want to offend the sun by moving away.

I have an Italian Greyhound and she hates the cold. We have floor heater vents and she lies on top of the vents during the winter. One time, she was lying there with her tongue hanging out, panting. Goofy dog was so overheated but didn't move.

Our dog loves to go out in the 90 degree weather and lie in the mulch in the blazing sun. When we make her come in, she gets up and drags all the mulch in with her. I'm forever mopping up mulch and picking up pieces of it off the rugs.
But we still love her to pieces!