IIRC, there's also a C. comans cultivar called 'Bronzita.' It should also be hardy in zone 7. One of the problems with NZ Carex is it's relative newness in our market. Even the latest consumer books are short in information on these plants. I've spent hours scouring the net for information from EnZed sources, and there isn't much. This is a subject where active forums can play a great part in advancing the knowledge-base of their uses in our gardens. Share your experiences with NZ Sedges. It'll help us all.

Sorry, didn't look closely enough. They are in the ground...Duh. Gee, rhizo, you could be right! The more I look, the more I think it could be Mosaic Virus. If so, there's no time to lose. (If you have doubts, take a sample of the foliage to your local, knowledgeable, nurseryman or Ag Extension Agent for verification.) Assuming confirmation, first of all, JY, destroy the affected plants. Aphids and cucumber beetles can spread it to healthy plants if they feed on infected ones. And any fruit the sick ones make will be stunted and no good. Keep a close watch on your other plants. If they start showing symptoms, destroy them too. (I would immediately buy fresh seed and start them in small pots as back ups. Plant them in a different spot and don't plant any cucs, squash or melons in this box for 3 to 4 years. Yeah, I know. Bummer.) Second, where did you get your seed? This disease can easily be spread by contaminated seed. If the seed was not certified as disease free, destroy any seed you have. Third, do you have weedy areas near your garden? They can be host plants for Mosaic Virus and the critters that carry it.. Cut them down, Round them up, whatever. And keep them under control. (This is good advice for lots of things. You wouldn't believe all the bad insects that breed in weeds just waiting for you to plant your veggies.) Re: the spinach. Since you're certain that you planted only two seeds and one has been pulled, it's logical to assume that the one seed is making four sprouts. Time will tell. And the tomatoes, how are they doing? If they're not growing quickly by now, feed them too. And be aware that they like somewhat cooler temps for growing on than they prefer for germination. When I start my spring plants, I germinate them upstairs in the heated house, then move them to the unheated basement once they get their first set of true leaves.

10a sounds more like Waikanae than Wellington. You can over-winter peppers. I've done that with the small ornamentals and been successful but they wither at the whiff of a cool night. Serious heat-lovers - along with tomatoes. Garlic: I'm not sure about more, bigger, sooner. There are those baggies of very white coated garlic they bring in from China. The Warehouse has seed garlic, though I've only seen it, not grown it. And, if you have friends in Blenheim area - lots of garlic grown there - and harvested in February. (In time for wine festivals, ripening figs, and other decadences...) Some of my garlic clumps stay in the ground all year to keep the roses company. Every so often they flower. I suspect that soil type and aspect probably has a lot to do with size and speed. A sandy-ish soil with added humus more than recent compost might be part of the answer. With the peppers - I think that this year I'll go for biggish containers and all the sun I can get, plus protection to hurry them along. By the time they consider flowering and fruiting, if I plant at Labour Weekend, it's nearly time to close down for winter! I don't enjoy the sort of Mediterranean climate that they seem to thrive in. Some of the GW sites are friendly and welcoming - Rocky Mountains and Bulbs, for example. And the frugal gardening people who were all wekas in a past life, I'm sure. Particular people are well worth heeding - calistoga, who is great on container gardening and general things, lindac, pnwgal48 who gardens on a pocket handkerchief and works as a horticulturalist - really knows her plants and growing conditions, donnabaskets for bulbs - and chemocurl, mr subjunctive for house plants. They are all kind and usually courteous to newbies. Fun places to be include Name That Plant! where people from anywhere and all over post their pictures of plants they can't name - common and not-known-in-NZ. And the Weeds... there are some nightmares I hope we never see here. Kudzu grass. Eek! The UK site is also useful. And the Pacific North West - Washington State and Oregon - are most like us, as well as coastal British Columbia in Canada. The Californians are pleased to say how their 9 zones are nothing like ours - and I agree. Worse than Central Otago in mid summer. (So's the mid west. As bad as Aus with temps into the late thirties and early forties.) Hope that helps. I'm out to deck the plants with clouds of frost cloths. Tra-la-la-la-la...

Great observation. I have not visited US West Coast ever, but yes, Azores has rather high temp for lows and low for highs. I did not know SFO has ~45F as all time lows though. Azores about 8 months of the year are taking long time to warm up even into June and are staying mostly below 70F and then when they warm in June-July up they stay mostly above 66F for 3-4 months. If SFO has never below 45F it is a perfect climate for most. According to this website SFO is not an exact match to the Azores islands: https://www.tripsavvy.com/san-francisco-climate-and-weather-1479149 "San Francisco Weather Records The highest recorded temperature in San Francisco was 39°C on July 17, 1988, and June 14, 2000. The lowest was −3°C on December 11, 1932." Azores never above 30C (86F) and never below 6C (45F). Some very rare historical tempos may show above 30C or below 6C in the Azores, but those are rather very rare exceptions. Usually 10C to 25C or 50F to 77F and very stable at that. Although it can be "close", but in the Azores summer temperatures are very constantly (and stable) at 68F to 77F with very strong sunshine and very high humidity above 75% most of the time, which makes sure your skin never cracks. The temp never goes below 65F in summer months between late June and first part of September. Probably a better match for NZ climate although I have not studied it and much more tropical than NZ or SFO, even that Azores are at 36 to 39 degrees latitude above the Equator, but the Gulf Stream makes Azores climate milder by at least 10 to 15 degrees above and beyond the Equator, which means while tropics usually begin with about 25 or 24 degrees above the Equator the Gulf Stream warms it up and the tropics in the Northern Atlantic are located up to 40 degrees latitude. Those may be not typical tropics, but rather pseudo-tropics or extra-tropics where the lows are lower and the highs are also lower, but influence from the Gulf Stream makes it more or less tropical. I would call them Mild or Cool Oceanic Tropics and some sources refer them rather incorrectly as to Temperate Climate, but temperate climate usually has freezing temperatures as lows, so this is not even SFO climate and rather an exceptional, a very rare fully oceanic pseudo-tropical climate, probably unique in the world along with Madeira. Some say Lord Howe Island has a similar climate, yet Lord Howe Island is within typical subtropical latitudes (31 degrees above Equator) and the Azores are way North at 36 to 39 degrees above Equator. Also, I know someone near me who is growing a coconut palm tree and to my opinion it looks a bit miserable and I doubt it will ever produce fruit. It needs heat, much more than Azores can produce, I must agree that Azores is not a true tropical climate and not a true subtropical climate either or not a true temperate climate either and needs a name of its own. Perhaps one should name it a Gulf Stream influenced extra-tropics. I do grow most tropical palms here, but some super-tropicals, that require constant at least 18C to 35C do not do well here and some have died as seedlings, but I am not sure how they would do as adult plants. If anyone wants to send me adult palms from super-tropics I could test grow them here. So having said all that it means that Azores is lacking HEAT and its all time lows or constant lows are too low to treat it as true tropics, such as Singapore, Philippines etc. but Eucalyptus deglupta does fine here even as mini-seedlings being held outdoors even in full wind and so do bananas, even with insufficient heat. I do test a lot of tropical plants here and some or rather most survive fine and some do not do well or even die, probabaly from excessive rain in winter, and or wind. Most tropical palm seedlings do fine, or do well and survived 3 "winters" so far.