You can mix stains just like you can paint. Just stick w the same stain family. So if you like pecan, but its a touch too dark, mix it 75/25 w natural. Still too dark, 50/50. I suspect you'll be happier w 60-75% pecan. 50% natural will make it too light, IMO.
My favorite stain 'color' for most woodwork projects is MinWax Golden Oak and Cherry mixed 50/50.
You can also use Wood Conditioner to pretreat wood to prevent uneven staining. That would prevent the blotchy effect on sample #3 labeled EAm (early american).
You can thin stain w thinner or MinSpirits, but that thins it, not really lightening it.
Try either the wood conditioner (straight) or natural stain (thinned 50/50) and then apply the stain color you like the best. The pre-treatment will prevent the wood from taking as much of the stain you like, making it a lighter shade of the same color, or nearly so. But you will need to wipe on, wipe off to help prevent over absorption during the 2nd staining.
Been 15yrs since I used natural stain that way or wood conditioner, may need to experiment a little to figure out the right wait time between wipe on wipe off of each step and the time between the 2 stainings.
In the heat, you probably dont want to leave the pre treated wood to dry overnight ~ 24hrs. Then it'd be more likely to absorb more of the 2nd staining.
The pretreat will give you more even coverage though, esp on pine.
