This post is rather late compared to the last, but just to put out my 2 cents ... In the Bakersfield area, the big January Freeze knocked down Bougainvilleas, Cut Leaf Philodendrons, Pygmy Date Palms, Banana Plants, Lantanas, Australian Tree Ferns, Jasmines and Bird of Paradise plants. However, quite amazingly, even the most horribly damaged and dead looking plants are pushing up new leaves and shoots. Stark examples include Cut Leaf Philodendrons that looked like rotting stumps that shoot out new growth from deep in the soil and to the side of the old rotting stump. Banana Plants that looked dead and one might be tempted to root up and trash are regaining good height with new growth. About the only plants that I have that are still painfully slow in recovery are two Pygmy Data Palms, one of which is just beginning to put up new growth and the other, still green and tender at the base, just doesn't seem to want to wake up.

Tom, I try to avoid being actually IN the sun as much as I can, since I'm always too hot and I've had skin cancer five times. BUT...having said that...having no sunLIGHT is terribly depressing. I'm feeling SAD, myself, even though I know I don't have it to the extent I need treatment for it. But four or five days of unrelenting darkness and grey skies is just too much. I've definitely been feeling depressed. If last night's storm had happened the FIRST night of the rain, it probably wouldn't have upset me nearly as much. I was just outside between showers and looking around more closely, and I think MOST things will survive with some damage pruned off, and some cleaning up. Lots of debris removal will be forthcoming, and there are several plants that I don't think will make it. But the yard won't be as barren as it was after the freeze or anything. And the things that didn't get smashed are going to be really green and happy. It will all end up okay. Just some extra work, and a few replacement plants. Joey still looks like a goner, and I'm seriously worried about my rudbeckia submentosa, which really got flattened. And some of my coleus got broken back to ground level. Those will sprout again, I'm sure. But Joey and the rudbeckia...well, we'll see. I just can't wait to see a brighter sky. When I was younger, I used to love rainy days and living in the northwest was very appealing. I don't think I could do it now, either. I need me some SUNLIGHT!!!!! *Tom and Marcia, doing the Sunshine Superman dance, here* Marcia

Some great information on this thread. I am in the SF Bay Area, USDA zone 10a (according to the maps) or Sunset zone 16. Recently I've become interested in tropical and subtropical plants, and which species I might be able to grow in my yard. I do have some questions about the USDA zones though, I know they go by average low temperatures instead of extreme lows, so by that definition my zone should be 11, not 10a, because all the climate information I can find says that the lowest average temperature here is 40 degrees (December 28th through January 1st are statistically the coldest days of the year). Yet zone 10a is for average low temperatures between 30-35 degrees - which zone am I in? Temperatures in the mid- to upper-30s aren't uncommon at all here in the winter when cooler systems pass through, but drops into the 20s happen maybe 1-3 times a year. The lowest temperature I have recorded at my house is 27 degrees, and we have had snow once (about an inch or less) on one occasion in the past decade, that was sort of a freak incident. This is all pretty typical for Sunset zone 16, which I feel is a much better description of my area than USDA zone 10a. Using the Sunset zones is difficult though, because none of the nurseries here use them, and because they mainly describe where a plant grows best, not where it just grows. So now I'm left wondering what I can get away with in my area... As mentioned above, mature Strelitzia reginae is not an uncommon sight here in the Bay Area. Maybe it's not as common as in LA, but it's definitely here. I actually just planted one in my yard today, and I'm anxious to see how it does. I fully expect it to get a bit of frost damage in the winter, but that doesn't bother me at all as long as the plant itself lives. I was also considering putting a Dwarf Cavendish Banana in the same spot, but decided against it because they are apparently not as cold hardy, and that particular location can get a bit windy. I am interested in planting more subtropicals/hardy tropicals in my yard if I can. I know there are some particularly cold hardy bananas, so I'm going to look into those. Has anyone had success growing Passionfruit in the Bay Area? I love vines and particularly the flowers of Passiflora. I am also considering putting a Pineapple Guava if I can find a good place, since it would be nice to have something that bears fruit (I have a couple nectarine trees, but none of their fruits mature because of peach leaf curl that I can't get rid of).

A forest will choke out a thicket, I often recomend that fruit and nut trees be planted on purpose, so that we lock up carbon and produce food for ourselves, and chocke out the brush plants that are unpleasent to walk through. When you go on a hike along a tail it seems that you are always either bordered by clearing/lawn or by a thicket, but once you break through that thicket you can useually travle quite quickly and easily and have plenty of space to move about. The main reasonfor removing trees and brush historicly wasn't to make things more pleasent, it was to open up land for agricultural use. with a field we can grow staple cerial grains, or legumes, or use it as pasture for animals, while some trees may provide seasonal food for some critters it takes alot of work to survive off of them year round (and trust me when I say thing, willow does not taste that good) . Our modenr day lawns were not contrived from thin air, you need to look at were they came from to understand how they fit in. Lawns are popular mainly in the south (sure, lots of people like them, but in the south they are sick for them) the south had a large portion of its caucasian inhabitants come from scotland (the southern drawl is very closely related to the scots accent) in schotland they have huge green field that are kept down to a few inches all summer long, this is because there is alot of rain and people raise sheep. Now, in the south there isn't as much water in the summer, and there aren't as many sheep, but people still liked the look of home so a lawn with mowers and irrigation is what they came up with.