With so many leafless, spiky plants growing all around us in this desert, roses seem luxuriously soft and frilly — even with their thorns — by contrast.

Gardening can be an intoxicating hobby, especially if the botany is booze-related.

Chris Young didn’t have to dig too deep for motivation when his Saguaro girls basketball team assembled for preseason workouts in the fall.

By Tuesday night, both Gilbert and Mesquite high schools were expected to have finalized their respective football coaches in Tim Rutt (Gilbert) and Jim Jones (Mesquite).

Some artificial Christmas trees glow cheerily even without lights: The branches themselves softly glow, fading on and off in different colors at the tips.

Here comes the big-time bubble talk.

It's not enough for Halloween drinks to be delicious. They also have to be creepy.

Paradise Valley didn’t wait long to announce its presence as a contender for the 2012 Division III crown.

Every time Karl Sup of Mesa is in Detroit for business, he stops by the black granite memorial near Interstate 94 and Middle Belt Road in Romulus, Mich. He’s there to remember a friend whose name is etched alongside with 155 others.

Take a self-paced tour of ten discovery stations along the main trail at Desert Botanical Garden, where you may see nighthawks, night-blooming flowers, toads, owls, snakes, scorpions and desert tortoises. Flashlights are not provided, so bring your own.

The sun, in its various hues and levels of intensity, plays an important role in Oliver Stone's latest, "Savages."

The sun, in its various hues and levels of intensity, plays an important role in Oliver Stone's latest, "Savages."

Saguaro became the latest upset-victim of No. 5 Phoenix South Mountain, as the Jaguars beat the Sabercats, 66-42, in the championship game of the Division II, Section III tournament Saturday night

The Salt River Project is giving away desert adapted shade trees to homes around the Valley to reduce energy costs and improve air quality.

Are your oranges odd? Your lemons lacking? Your grapefruit not that good? Let the Master Gardeners of Maricopa County teach you to cultivate produce you can be proud of at the two citrus clinics they are holding at Mesa's Greenfield Citrus Nursery on Jan. 21.

A roadside curiosity that countless motorists traveling U.S. Highway 60 east of the Valley have wondered about over the decades is about to open its doors for the first time in five years.

You wouldn’t want to get caught smooching under Arizona’s native mistletoe.

The Tempe Union High School District governing board has approved dozens of new courses for the 2009-10 school year.

Animals, museums, gardens, theaters - they're all found in San Diego's Balboa Park, a 1,400-acre swath in the middle of the city that includes the world-famous zoo and 15 museums.

A planned butterfly garden at Playa del Rey Elementary School in Gilbert is expected to give every grade level a chance to learn in a natural environment. The first-graders can use digital thermometers in the garden while studying about weather, while the second-graders have a place to release their butterflies, an annual project.

Dallas Horvath’s cabbage seedling was a tiny leaf in a paper cup when he brought it home from his third-grade class at Scottsdale’s Laguna Elementary School last year.

TILE HOW-TO Learn to install ceramic tile over backboards on floors and walls as well as the basics of tile selection and common mistakes to avoid during the Tiling Floors and Walls workshop. 11 p.m. each Saturday in September at Home Depot stores. Free. www.homedepot.com.

Jeff Whitney has known he wanted to be a firefighter since he was 14, growing up in Wickenburg.

Learn about botany, history and Scripture on a walk alongside arboretum volunteer and Bible scholar David Oberpriller during the Plants of the Bible: Guided Tour.