Experience Desert Botanical Garden after dark

Flashlight tours are a sensory adventure where you will see, hear and feel the desert night.

Good watering makes good gardens

Sunday, June 16, 2013 5:43 am

Plants need water to keep cool, pump minerals up to their leaves and grow. And in many regions and many seasons, they can fend for themselves getting water.

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State senator, wife raising funds for concert hall next to Mesa Arts Center

Sunday, June 16, 2013 3:59 am

Within the next five years, District 25 state Sen. Bob Worsley, R-Mesa, and his wife Christi hope to have Arizona’s first “world-class concert hall” adjacent to another city institution available for public use.

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Rodriguez grateful for his father's lessons on toughness

Rich Rodriguez grateful for his father's lessons on toughness, but please, no more gardening.

Get Out's Worth the Trip: Circus arts, animals and BBQ in Prescott, Tucson and Williams

Thursday, June 13, 2013 6:00 pm

Prescott; Tucson; Williams

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5 free things to do in Philadelphia

Thursday, June 13, 2013 6:00 pm

PHILADELPHIA — The City of Brotherly Love is perhaps best known for its Colonial roots but locals will tell you there's much more to explore in this city of 1.5 million people. Options abound for travelers looking for free things to do in and around the historic district and beyond — and they don't all involve tri-corner hats and Betsy Ross' flag.

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The Vent: June 12

Wednesday, June 12, 2013 12:31 pm

“Don’t stop Joe. Keep doing your job. Illegal is still illegal.”

Homes Gardening-Watering

This undated image shows a soil moisture testor in a garden. A reliable way to tell whether any plant needs water is to dig a hole near it and feel the soil for moisture. Instead of pocking your garden full of test holes, you could instead periodically check for wetness by probing it with an (inexpensive) electronic moisture meter. (AP Photo/Lee Reich)

Travel Trip 5 Free Things Philadelphia

In this Wednesday, May 8, 2013 photo, shown is the Dream Garden glass mosaic in the Lobby of the Curtis Center in Philadelphia. The City of Brotherly Love is perhaps best known for its Colonial roots but locals will tell you there's much more to explore in this city of 1.5 million people. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Travel Trip 5 Free Things Philadelphia

In this Wednesday, May 8, 2013 photo, shown is a closeup look at the Dream Garden glass mosaic in the Lobby of the Curtis Center in Philadelphia. The City of Brotherly Love is perhaps best known for its Colonial roots but locals will tell you there's much more to explore in this city of 1.5 million people. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Gardening-Cool Coops

This image taken on April 20, 2013 shows a "Crooked Coop" in Clinton, Wash. that is reminiscent of a fairy tale house of Dr. Seuss. Designer chicken coops are becoming a new kind of yard art and many poultry raisers are being upfront about it -- using the outbuildings as extensions of their homes. A chicken coop can be anything from technical to aesthetic to wacky as long as it functions well for the birds. (AP Photo/Dean Fosdick)

Travel Trip Ireland The Gathering

This undated photo from the Powerscourt Estate shows the gardens and grounds of the estate in Enniskerry, County Wicklow, Ireland, with the Wicklow Mountains in the background. The Powerscourt Estate and other great houses, castles and gardens in Ireland are hosting events connected to The Gathering, a yearlong nationwide event inviting Irish emigrants and their descendants home to celebrate their heritage. Powerscourt recently hosted a talk by a genealogist to help visitors track their “Wicklow roots.” (AP Photo/Powerscourt Estate)

Gardening-Cool Coops

This image taken on May 11, 2013 shows a moveable chicken coop sold by Williams-Sonoma, that is built on wheels which makes it easy to maneuver around a lawn providing fresh grass for the small, foraging flock, in Langley, Wash. It's a good way to fertilize, too. (AP Photo/Dean Fosdick)

A great summer for US theme park vacation

Saturday, June 1, 2013 5:00 pm

ORLANDO, Fla. — If there's ever been a summer to visit a theme park — or two, or three — this is it.

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Scarp: As the temperatures climb, its time to warm up to summer survival

Saturday, June 1, 2013 5:59 am

Now that June is boiling up all over, as a public service this column will provide, especially to new arrivals, unsolicited advice on summer survival in the Sonoran Desert. When you’re not covering yourself in aloe vera juice to relieve a scalding sunburn, when surfaces inside your car are noticeably less than molten, when you’re watching someone else on TV being carried down from Camelback Mountain giving a thumbs-up to the camera — that’s when you’ll thank me, um, I hope.

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Travel-Theme Parks-New Attractions

This undated image supplied by Busch Gardens Tampa shows a performance from “Madgascar Live!” which is a stage show at the theme park inspired by the animated “Madgascar” movie. It’s one of a number of new attractions this year at theme parks around the country. (AP Photo/ Busch Gardens Tampa)

Isamu Noguchi

This photo provided by The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum shows Noguchi, the late modernist sculptor, in his studio in Long Island City, N.Y., in the 1960s, surrounded by his lighting sculptures. Japanese paper lanterns used in ancestor worship customs were the inspiration for Noguchi’s lamp designs, which he called akari, the Japanese word for light. The lamps became classics of mid-20th century modern home design, and while the concept has been widely imitated, Noguchi’s original designs are still produced and sold by his foundation. (AP Photo/The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum)