As far as edibles go, I have:

Grapefruit
Lemon
Nectarine
Plum
Peach
Apricot
Pomegranate
Banana
Grapes
Strawberries
Peppers
Tomatoes
and soon I'm adding Bluberries

If you want something to grow on a wall and bloom voraciously, try Lady Banks' Roses. They're much tougher and faster growing than traditional climbing roses.

Ryan

More edibles:

Eggplant
Okra
Chili Peppers

Basil www.associatedcontent.com/article/1077458/basil_how_to_grow_harvest_and_store.html

Tomatillos www.associatedcontent.com/article/226227/how_to_grow_and_cook_tomatillos_you.html

I want a lot more but this is what I have so far.

12 Fig trees
1 Peach tree
1 Nectarine tree
2 Asian Pear trees
2 Orange trees
3 Plum tress
7 Tomato plants
2 Hot Pepper plants
1 Golden Dorsette Apple

If things go well and our house sells this summer and we are in a place with a nice yard I plan on adding....

Pomegranates
Pear
Peaches
Plum
Almonds
Pecans
Grapes
Blackberries
Apricot
Blueberries
Cherries
Lime
Lemon
Mulberries
Jujubes

And a nice big garden too but we may lose our home and be living in an apartment so its a little to early to say what is anything I will be adding. Hoping I at least get to keep what I already have.

Ryan, what kind of grapes do you have? Any wine grapes? Thompson Seedless grow well here. We have commercial table grape growers. They don't make the best wine, however.

Thanks for all the great ideas! I had no idea pears and peaches and nectarines would grow here. Thought they needed snow or something in the winter.

We grow everything thats on my site, and yes all the grapes too. The only wine grapes I grow are rootstock then I graft whatever the vineyard wants...

Here is a link that might be useful: MySite

Thanks for the link, Ryan! I looked yesterday for some Soil Moist Mycorrhizal and couldn't find it. Now I know where I can get it! Not ordering anything till after March 3. I'll be in Colorado visiting grand kiddies.

As for the grape vines, Starks has a Thomcord. Cross between Thompson Seedless and Concord. THAT might get me the wine I want! Plus, with the Thompson Seedless in there, it may be able to withstand our heat. Fingers crossed!!

Thanks!

Do you use eBay? I bought grapes from a seller on there, located in Calif, and was quite pleased. He has an incredible selection of wine grapes. email me directly for more info if you want it.

Currently only have Thompson and Flame, but I would like to add wine grapes. Maybe when I get into a new place.

The stone fruits do ok out here (peach, nectarine, apricot etc.) if you pick the right low-chill varieties. Starks has a great selection, I just got their catalog, but I haven't ordered from them yet. Honestly, because our spring is so short (we go from cold to hot so quickly without spending enough time at warm), the fruit doesn't have time to grow very much before it ripens. So don't expect any giant peaches like you find in the grocery stores. Although they will taste 1000x better than those at the store.

Ryan

You guys convinced me I could grow raspberries here, so I bought 3 varieties, Saanich, Cascade Delight, and Tulameen?? They are supposed to do well in the heat. We shall see!!

Grapes? This I know. Wine grapes NEED cool nights. We have hot days and warm nights. I think I'm stuck growing table grapes for jug wine. Fine wine grapes dont grow in the desert. Sad to say......

My ears are open if you have a varietal that will grow in our hot days and warm nights and semi cold winters.

Suzi

Great post and replies. Really fun to read. Don't forget that lots of leafy greens are excellent crops autumn through spring. I grow a lot of lettuce and other leafy things from October through March or so and really enjoy them, plus all manner of herbs too. You definitely posted to the right forum. :)

You might want to check out the Extreme Gardening book by David Owens. It's all about vegetable/edible gardening in the warm-winter deserts of the SW. I'll post a link at the bottom.

For scent, stocks and old-fashioned fragrant petunias are great autumn through spring, as are fragrant alyssum. In summer I grow a lot of the old heirloom scented flowering nicotiana (Nicotiana alata, old fashioned types not the newer shorter types that open in daylight but are unscented). The nicotiana blooms all spring through autumn and the flowers open at night and are amazingly fragrant at night (I got the originals from Select Seeds, just make sure they're listed as fragrant). Several types of fragrant jasmine will work for you too, and scented geraniums are always a winner in my book--they are also easier to keep alive through our blast furnace summers than zonal geraniums (which are great autumn through winter of course). I do like blooms and nice scented gardens.

Let us know how the dahlias do for you. I think most folks find they are not really good performers here, but you could prove us all wrong.

Keep us posted on what you grow and how it works out.
Take care,
Grant

Here is a link that might be useful: Extreme Gardening book

Grant,
Thanks for the link to that Extreme Gardening book! And I forgot about Jasmine! I'll have to tuck in some of that in the courtyard. It smells so wonderful!

Dahlias, I'm putting them in partial shade tied to the grape trellis or the boganvilla trellis. Fingers crossed.

I ordered a couple blueberry bushes this weekend also. They are good in the heat!

I understand that the birds will go after the raspberries and the blueberries, so I may have to get up early and keep an eye on things. I'll be happy to do that if those bushes bear some berries!!

Thanks again for the link!

I had a neighbor in phoenix who gardened. He planted carrots Swiss chard and okra. I feel certain you could do parsnips. Also did lots of tomatoes. Everything was organic . Strawberries and some kind of a melon. Couldn't eat better than what he grew. He bought organic fertilizer even for his roses. The man was an outright alcoholic and despite that he lived into his late 80s because he ate so much organic produce.