I don't know how Methely performs outside my area but there is absolutely no doubt, from my experience at maybe 25 different sites, that it is extremely susceptible to black knot and more so than any of the other 20-25 varieties of plums I grow at multiple sites. It is, nevertheless, a useful plum here except at the worst sites for this disease. Just expect to have to do a lot of cutting out of black knot and maybe replace the tree after about 10 years (if your site is bad for it). Also, ask any of those commercial growers what is their most difficult apple to grow and I suspect the answer will be Honeycrisp. I have spoken about it to the Crop Production System"s main consultant to commercial growers in the Hudson Valley. He call's Honeycrisp twice as difficult to grow as any other major apple but worth it because of the high price per bin it receives from distributors. This year at mine and two other sites where I grow it on 6 different trees and three different rootstocks, 90% of the crop rotted before it achieved decent quality. I am not providing calcium sprays (as commercial growers do) and there may be something I haven't pinpointed that I'm doing wrong, but no other apple I grow gives me so much trouble. These trees performed well before they reached full maturity with well established root systems. Scott, I made a mistake when I wrote Queen Rosa, I was actually talking about Ruby Queen, although I do manage a small QR as well, which has excellent fruit but may also have the same reliability issues as Santa Rosa and here, the same susceptibility to cold related cambium damage. I will correct my initial statement to say that I consider Ruby Queen to be an excellent and easy to grow J. plum and the best late season J. plum I grow if you factor in overall performance including resistance to bacterial spot. It was also bred for the south and seems to be highly regarded for both quality and reliability there. People that want an extremely sweet plum may be disappointed with it, though. I sometimes wonder if your evaluations also include input from other friends. I am certainly influenced by the opinions of my customers and friends of fruit from their own trees and what I supply them to sample. I have customers who believe their own Methely trees produce the best plums in the world (maybe not the ones who've sampled a wide variety of other plums, though). It appears that Satsuma is going to require at least annual sprays of copper here to help limit bacterial spot. This is not an issue with more common east coast plums I grow here- at least at most sites. My main tree was healthy for the first 4 years but has gotten increasingly infected in the last 2.

"Roughly speaking, how much of the flora is unable to grow on the West Coast?" Seems like it's usually more like what won't grow here? (Often with bad consequences, in the case of invasives.) For instance, my mother is endlessly frustrated by my interest in native plants (she is in New Mexico), as she says "You can grow ANYTHING there and you plant plain old Apricot Mallow???!" lol. Of course, I still have a lemon tree, orange tree, palm tree, tea tree, orchid tree, hibiscus, hydrangea, avocado etc....Full disclosure: I am a newbie and just got some actual dirt a year ago - but it has been amazing to learn about this amazing climate - which is Mediterranean btw. Often I wish there was a California version of every forum here - particularly veggies, since our planting times are totally different. Some books I like: Mediterranean Kitchen Garden: Growing Organic Fruit and Vegetables in a Hot, Dry Climate by Mariano Bueno, Pat Welsh's Southern California Gardening, and California Native Plants for the Garden by Carol Bornstein et al. The Sunset Bible is also on my shelf. The micro-climate is crucial - I am in East LA and have a totally different zone than you will in Santa Monica. One thing that I'll add to look into for native plants is the Theodore Payne Foundation which is local - it's really a neat non-profit nursery and educational resource.

I do not know about ground temp but many places have soil types that are not the best for geothermal which can be altered with other materials. There are also different types of geothermal along with different ways to drill the wells. There is a new method where the entrance wells start in a small area and the wells are drilled at an angle rather than straight down. This allows for only a very small area to be consumed in the yard for lines and wells. If you have a big enough yard a pit system can be done and a 'DX' system can be installed which has no fluid other than the same refrigerant that normal systems use. If you are going to be in the house long term I would really look hard at geothermal. I would also really look into extra steps in the sealing and insulation area. I did put sealing ahead of insulation because sealing should always come before insulating.

My 2 story house was built in 1940 with a boiler and cast iron radiators for heat, and no A/C. We later added A/C in the attic, so we how have a gas boiler with radiant in the winter, and A/C to provide cooling in the summer. I am in climate zone 4 with moderate to high humidity in the summer. Cold air is heavier and goes down easily, so the attic-mounted A/C works well to cool both floors. The cast iron radiators and boiler provide very even heat in the winter, with only about a 1 degree temperature variation between the two floors. It wouldn't make sense for a new build to buy two systems, but it is definitely a very comfortable heating and cooling combination. Bruce