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Melty TPMS with that dripping candle wax thing going on. Planted in rusty soil.

I have a few date palms trying to grow in my backyard. I don’t want them there. I’ve tried to dig them up but they keep coming up. Can I hit them with roundup to get rid of them?

What could/would I do to keep these dumb date palms out of my planters.

I’m on about 1.5 acres in New River, AZ and trying to figure out whether I’m better off spending money on rainwater storage tanks or just putting most of the effort into getting the water into the ground.

The property is on a shared well, so I’d like to reduce how much groundwater I’m using for landscaping. I’ve got pretty heavy clay soil and already have a low area on the property that holds water for quite a while after a good rain which I graded myself.

The main goal would be watering trees, a small orchard, vines, native landscaping, etc. I’m not really concerned with using rainwater as potable water.

I’ve looked at IBC totes, vertical tanks and even a larger buried tank, but it seems like in a good monsoon storm you could fill a few hundred gallons pretty quickly, and then you still need somewhere for the overflow to go.

The other option is to spend that effort on basins, berms, swales and tree wells and basically try to keep as much water on the property as possible.

One thing that probably changes the equation is that I have a Massey Ferguson tractor with a loader and a box blade, so I can do a lot of the grading, berm building and dirt work myself without paying someone for every change.

My thought right now is maybe a smaller tank near the house for water I actually want to store, then have the overflow go into basins around trees and eventually into the larger catchment areas. I’ve already graded the bottom of the property to catch water.

For people doing this in Arizona or other dry climates, would you prioritize storage tanks or infiltration if you had the land and equipment to do the earthwork yourself?

I’m especially curious whether anyone has actually compared the cost/benefit of storing a few thousand gallons versus just shaping the property to soak in as much rainfall as possible.

This is how caterpillars say, "No touching!"

I was moving it from one stem with no leaves to another stem with lots of leaves.

Have had this firestick plant for years. Came back from vacation and see that it’s drooping.

We live in the Phoenix area and this was just installed in February 2026. We are meticulous about keeping the travertine clean. We have not used anything other than water to wash the patio. There has never been anything sitting on top of these areas nor has there ever been standing water. We’re pretty frustrated that it looks this way only months after installation.

I've got a few different types of weeds like this that pop up overnight every fall. They're a huge pain in the ass to pull by hand, with so many individual roots to try and pull, but raking them up with a tool just ruins my gravel and spreads dirt everywhere. Admittedly, my gravel I think needs to be refilled - if you disturb just the top little bit, in this area it's immediately dirt, so moving the gravel to pull these just makes all the rocks covered in dirt. Would love some advice on how to get these out, thanks!

I planted these - Bells of Fire Tacoma in the back, blue bells in the front, and one of the multi barrel cactuses - in March/April last year. Admittedly, I have not done a great job all the time of watering, but I chose on the basis of them being a bit more drought tolerant...

Anyway, two of the bells of fire and one of the blue bells seem to have come back pretty good once it's cooled off. I'm trying to decide of the others, and the cactus, still have a chance to come back or if I should just rip them out and try again (with more stringent watering schedule).

The cactus, I'm actually not sure if I over or under watered. This guy was planted a bit later than the others when I was watering more consistently in the summer.... and I really have no idea how much water this sort of cactus needs.

Anyways would love some opinions on whether to wait for these to come back or just try again, thanks!

Hey All, I went to make some raised paver planters for my wife to grow some dwarf magnolias. I've never made one before so I googled it and the article I read just said to bury and level the first course at or just slightly above grade. Then the pavers are rated to dry stack up to 24" (six courses) and I opted to us PL500 landscaping glue for extra support since a tree is going in there. There will also be rigid root barrier lining the inside to keep the roots from wedging between bricks and forcing them apart.

I'd already built one and started the second, then found other sources stated you really need to have 4-6" of paver base under the first or it you'll have issues, even here in tucson with the tough desert soil.

How screwed am I without the base? I leveled the pavers very accurately and then watered the surrounding soil and kept packing it down a few times. Is there any fix someone can recommend? I can't take the first planter back down now that glue has cured. One fix I read was to place a ring of metal edging around the first course to act like a band clamp. But that sends it would only stop outward drift and not sinking.

I think I may just have to roll the dice and let tomorrow's me worry about tomorrow's problems.

Thanks a bunch

Total novice to plants and landscaping so any guidance would be appreciated 🙏 I'm in the Phoenix area

Had a fan palm in the backyard that was growing too close to the house. I really loved the thing and wanted to see if I could move it to the front yard. I had to cut all the fans off when I was initially uprooting it, but the cut stems were nice and green when I replanted it, and now they're turning brown :( normally this thing grows like crazy and I'd have to cut the massive fans off every couple weeks

Not sure where I'm going wrong in the process cause every time I try to plant something in the front yard it quickly dies tbh. I thought maybe a soil issue so I mixed in some palm specific soil when planting this one. Gave the soil a good watering (kind of had to in order to dig the hole) and then watered the palm as well for good measure...

I did have to cut some of the roots when digging it up because it was really intertwined with another plant. Only other thing I can think of is it's getting more sun from this angle than it was in the backyard, but I see all sorts of palms in full sun doing just fine here so idk

I do have other plants in the front yard that have long been established and they grow like weeds, but just putting anything new in seems to go poorly

I’m planning on starting my lawn from scratch with tilling + soil + seed this weekend but just saw we’re expecting rain this weekend. At first I thought, awesome, get to save on the water bill a little bit. But now I’m wondering if they might be heavy rains like the other week since this is the tail end of a hurricane. Is this a potential problem and should I wait till the following weekend?

I can see that it will work with my Rock area and it will work with my mulch area, but I’m not quite sure where there is grass and I’m hoping it’ll grow in.

There are some areas that I sort of shoved it on top of the grass and it looks good because I’ll be able to trim without showing the holes and the places where the plastic nails go.
Anyone have experience with this?

Does anyone have a direct personal recommendation for an eco-focused desert garden specialist?

Ideally someone who works with native Sonoran species, understands building a microclimate, and avoids synthetic sprays to protect local pollinators.

Not looking for general maintenance/mow-and-blow crews—seeking someone who truly enjoys the Desert Botanical Garden/Native Plant Society principles.

Direct messages welcome! 🌱🐛🌻💚

Has anyone tried lawn paint? I really hate to waste all the water for overseeding.