Don't forget that higher elevations with more rain and cold are also within mediterranean climate zones both within the Mediterranean Basin as well as here in California. There are local microclimates here in the SF Bay Area that receive up to 70/80 inches of rainfall, while less than 5 miles away it might be only 30 inches. They are both mediterranean climates as they get predominantly winter rainfall and dry summers. There is no typical mediterranean climate; as an example, Rome gets more summer rainfall than southern Spain, and it can and does freeze and snow occasionally in both Rome and Lebanon/Israel. Coastal California tends to get summer fogs which actually allow our version of coastal rainforests to exist, such as the mixed conifer/oak woodlands/coastal Redwood forests along the wetter slopes. California tends to have a longer dry season than most other mediterranean climate locations, South Africa's Western Cape tends to have a shorter dry season, but a much windier climate year round with resultant higher moisture loss due to winds rather than lack of rain. There is no "typical" mediterranean climate, other than the fact that they all have predominant winter wet periods and dry summers, which are a rarity in the rest of the world, and represent less than 2% of the world's climate zones. I would disagree about New Zealand not having microclimates that seem similar to a mediterranean climate. There are certainly areas that resemble one, with rather sparse summer rainfall, and generally mild year round temperatures. It might be interesting to note that tropical high elevation cloud forests often resemble climatic conditions of our northern California summer fog drenched mediterranean coastal areas, and Californian and other mediterranean plants do as well in these tropical high elevation environments as tropical cloud forest plants do in our foggy coastal California gardens. Knowing the locations, elevations and habitat conditions of mediterranean region plants and the temperature range and rainfall totals is a better predicator of success for replicating good growing conditions than overgeneralizing, as there are plenty of higher elevation plants that are prefectly cold hardy and wet tolerant and also from mediterranean climate zones. One generalization that is pretty easy to make successfully is tiny leaved, gray foliaged/waxy foliage plants from mediterranean zones will typically want full sun and excellent winter drainage to survive in higher winter rainfall zones such as the PNW, while succulent foliaged plants from areas that seldom freeze will be less successful in areas that stay very wet in winter and also freeze.

I dont think anyone doubts for a minute that there are some really sick and twisted people out there who do prey on children. The problem with this type of allegation though is that it's very hard to give someone the benefit of the doubt, what if you're wrong? so once an allegation has been made the person (usually a man) is branded and everyone will assume he is guilty and it can take everything from them even if they are innocent. But on the flip side there are women who do this, what better way to punish a man than to see his world crumble, to lose visitation to his kids, and to have everyone think he is scum. I think there is a bias in society and the legal system that feels if the allegation is made it must be true, but there needs to be much more scrutiny of these allegations and everyone involved (not just the accused) to try and weed out the false claims from real victims, and there have been studies done that show young children especially are very open to suggestion and an idea or an event can be planted in their heads and they will recount the incident with total belief that it happened, that's how suggestable they are and some people use children as pawns to make these type of allegations when they never happened. If a man is truly guilty of child abuse I'll be the first to suggest they should string him up and cut off his privates, but a small number of woman do use this as a way to get back at someone or punish them for other things and that is the really sad part about it. I mean, when did putting sunscreen on a child become sexual abuse? when did it become a crime for a man to hug his daughter, or his neice, or the child of a good friend, it's all so screwed up

When I did a search for photos, they (monogerm) look like typical beet seeds (fruit?) just smaller. What I received look like poppy seeds but blacker whereas poppy seeds often look a blue-black color. Would a company that sells seed internationally go through the trouble of removing the actual seeds from the shell to save on shipping? Maybe they have factories in China where labor rates are probably like $1.20 per day (8-10 work hours) and have crews smashing open beet seedpods and harvesting the actual seeds inside. I know commercial tomato seeds are de-fuzzed for weight reduction, maybe disease reduction too, but beet seeds?? What is your job? "Beetcracker." The other problem from the same vendor was Stevia seeds that turned out to be basil once they germinated. Maybe I better try germinating some of these in #4 coffee filter paper to see what they look like germinated?

sleeperblues- the final debate is next Wednesday, October 19th, so we are almost certainly going to see a few "mud bombs" dropped between then and election day in a puerile attempt to sway the most feeble minded voters. Elmer- I would agree that politicians and people in positions of power have always acted this way. Sadly, many think this is a new phenomenon. What should be disgusting and shocking to many, is sadly accepted as a fact. Those who are recently shocked by it have blinders on and foolishly think this man is calling attention to the disgusting debasement of our country when, in reality, many already knew it was happening and turned a blind eye. Both sides suck. I watched the debate last night and I felt like I was in some teen rom-com where they are fighting over who will be crowned student president. Going online and reading the responses and reactions from both sides only made it worse. As I told hubby tonight, both sides are locked in an echo chamber of self righteousness, convinced they are right and the other side is the proverbial devil. The truth is, both sides fight dirty, both sides have horrible selections and both sides are convinced they are right.