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California's Climate and SuchSunset zones do not work very well with native plants. The original Sunset zones were developed based on the trials and errors of an University of California extension agent in Riverside or San Bernardino. The original zones were created to find the areas where fruit and vegetables would succeed. For example, the night time temperatures needed to set tomatoes (54 F), the average winter chill needed to set fruit for most fruit trees (600-900 hours) and the first and last frost dates were the main factors determining the zones. Native plants could care less about any of those factors. Native plants care much more about rainfall, average 10 year winter low temperature, summer humidity and their plant community. Climate is better represented by plant communities, not Sunset Zones. So use your Sunset Western Garden Book to figure out the fruit tree you want, or if you can grow tomatoes, but use our plant community list for native plants.
Most of California has a Mediterranean climate with not much winter or a mild winter. Summers are mild to hot, but DRY. Most California native plants have not adapted to summer water. Unless the plant grows naturally in a creek or pond, DO NOT WATER in the summer except maybe the first summer when the plant is getting established. California climate extremesIn California, the climates can be very diverse in even one week. Temperates in the southern part of the State can be in the 100's in winter, while the northeast of California is experiencing snow and highs of 10-20 F. The coldest plant community is probably Bristlecone Pine Forest. -50 F has been recorded there by one of the ranchers, though the official temperature was -45 F. California was much colder when the first explorers were being blown around off the coast in the 1500's and 1600's. Those were arctic gales. California was in an eighty- year drought that intensified the extremes. Ice was hanging off of the Big Sur coast, and the mountains of Big Sur were covered with heavy snow. The water aboard ship froze, and the Salinas river was frozen to the point that a musket couldn't break it. So if Monterey was like present day Reno, what was Reno like, never mind the Bristlecone area? The hottest plant community is probably Creosote Woodland, particularly in the Salton Sea area (from Indio to El Centro). There they recorded 124 F in May 1896. But, then there's Death Valley with their 134 F in July, 1913, and average high summer temperatures of about 120 F.
The driest plant community is probably the alkali sink. The bottom of Death Valley sometimes does not see rain. Taft, in shadscale scrub, commonly receives 3 inches, while most of the creosote bush scrub areas receive 3-7 inches of rainfall per year. The weirdest plant community is chaparral. Rainfall is very variable (we range from 4 to 60 inches per year), temperature varies 50-60 degrees F. per day, and slopes and moisture really count. The top of a slope may be 20 degrees warmer than the bottom of a slope, 100-200 feet away. Ground may be frozen to 12 inches, but the day time temperature is 60 F Climate TechnologyForget evapotranspiration rates, reference evapotranspiration and crop coefficients. They have a lot to do with climate, and ruderals, but little or nothing to do with drought tolerant plants (stress tolerants). Other factors such as plant establishment, plant height, mulch, age of plants on the site, or the fact that you overwatered or fertilized matter a great deal more. Some of the sites in California that are covered in native vegetation should not have any living thing there if judged by evapotranspiration rates (Remember, according to science, bumblebees can't fly!). Climate feedback and California native plants.
In other marginal areas provide a wind screen for a few seasons to allow the first wind-blocking row of trees/shrubs to grow up. Some areas only have plants as high as the species that tolerates wind. The climate behind the bush or tree is very pleasant compared to the sandy/salty gale on the other side of the wind-tolerant plant. This wind row may only be 2-5 feet high and is common in coastal bluffs or desert edges. People commonly remove the 'scrub' and plant foo-foo plants that look like hell and die. Some people do this for years and are noticed for their lack of intelligence and plastic garden creatures. Plant communities are driven by the plants, but the plants can only survive where the plant community is supposed to be, which is delineated by climate. Climate is dynamically driven by the plant community AND the plant community is limited by the climate. Temperature ranges are decreased 10-20 degrees F, by the effects of the plant community. Precipitation rates can be increased by 50-150% when the plant community is intact. This feedback loop is the saving of many marginal sites. Just because the area has no native plants or plant community left, doesn't mean it cannot be recreated. Areas as small as a large lot can provide enough of an area to build a small plant community that only needs the dust washed off to create it's own 'climate'. The soil moisture under one coyote bush is twice that in the surrounding field of weeds. The oak tree can germinate and survive only under the resource island created by a plant like that one bush. Plant a coastal native landscape and oaks become weeds trying to move your coastal sage scrub garden to an oak forest. You've just doubled your effective rainfall, lowered your summer and increased your winter temperatures. If weeds invade a native plant community, the effective rainfall is cut in half, or more. The individual plants have the USDA zones attached to them primarily for the Easterners. |
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Las Pilitas Nursery |
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Santa Margarita - Escondido |
