I'm a new member from abroad learnid slowly to interact at this site and also away from the mainstream gardeners of the U.S.A. However gardeners from southern Chile and southwestern Argentina like myself, can share their experience along with those from Tasmania and southern N.Zealand. In the U.S.A the three western States ( Washington, Oregon and California ) have characteristics of the mediterranean climate. (less so in Wa. more than Cal. which is more the prototype). Obviously other groups with whom we share the climate, that could be interested are those along the Mediterranean basin, . The mediterranean type of climate is not particularly extended in the world, and has some pecularities, such as very dry summers and wet and relatively mild winters . This limits what we can actually grow in the open space or what we can aspire to grow under controlled conditions of a greenhouse or conservatory. Naturally each site is in many ways specific, but sometimes simmilarities override local differences opening for new opportunities for trying out new species, cultivars or ways of cultivation. Since I dimly understand the logic of the group forums, I'm just proposing to whom it may concern, such a possibility, based on a climatological grouping alongside the geographical one. The USA has a climate zoning system that is very practical, but I have yet to discover if anyone has attempted to translate it onto a wider world wide scale. If anyone knows about it please let me know. Thank you Arturo Tarak

Welcome, Arturo!
I don't know of any zoning system for other parts of the world. I don't think much of the USDA system, myself, and rarely use it. We do have Sunset Western Garden zone maps that cover the western states, and is far more useful. They have many more zones that describe the effects the topography has on our weather like ocean influence, desert winds, mountains, basins, etc. It has large zone maps and you can look up your zone, then read up on that zone. Check it out on line. I live in zone 22 (the Los Angeles basin), in southern California for instance. It could concievably be adapted to other countries if one wanted to take the time. l tried, but couldn't get a link. Go to sunset.com if interested.

We here on the West Coast share many plants with other parts of the world. I'm currently growing luma apiculata from Chile, Chilean Myrtle...halleria lucida from South Africa, many Aussies. Many of the plants that I grew in Southern California originate in other parts of the world, but the luma and the halleria are new to me as are some of the Aussie I'm growing now. I've been used to the sub-tropical area I lived in for over 30 years in Southern California and now find it interesting that many, many of those same plants will do well here where the last two winters we got 30-some inches of rain and the norm is more than 60 inches per year. I am this week planting a hydrangea from Taiwan (hydrangea lobbii) that I can find little info about, so we will see how well it does here. Lot of new experiences.

We're happy to have you join us!

I'm in the far northwestern corner of California, rather a 'Banana Belt'...though not so much as 20 miles north of here, oddly enough.

Thank you wcgypsy, Luma apiculata= Myrceugenella apiculata is here a native tree, in my region. My farm overlooks the Nahuel Huapi Lake, which is part of a series of contiguous National Parks of about a million hectares. One of them is Parque Nacional Los Arrayanes (=Luma apic.) which is a penninsula on this lake, designated for its protection. The trees reach about 4 mt high and have a tan flaky bark, particularly handsome. It grows in clumps generating suckers that can be left close to the main stem. It prefers wet feet, though not water clogged; it suffers from cold weather ( heavy frosts) but will do very well if protected under a larger tree. In nature it is commonly an understory tree growing along streams or wet ravines. Native Fuchsia bushes sometimes grow near. In my home town, Bariloche, it is often planted in city gardens since it grows very slowly. It prefers acid soil. In summer it has small white flowers that cover the evergreen leaves

My luma is very happy and doing well since getting into the ground. I have a friend who had a nursery and I was given a lot of her leftovers after she closed her business....items that had been in pots for far too long and it's rewarding to see them doing so well once they were 'set free'. It's interesting to grow plants that had been unfamiliar to me and some of the Aussies are still unknown to me, waiting for them to flower in some form to be able to identify them.

We are in a 'city' situation now and starting 'from scratch' on a small lot, not used to lacking privacy...an existing large cotoneaster and a short hedge were the extent of our privacy screen, several old trees having been taken down before we bought the property....so the 3 luma and 1 halleria are now the backbone of our front border, plus 1 Vine Maple, miscellaneous grasses and smaller shrubs.

It sounds to be beautiful where you are...we would love to see pictures if you get the chance....

edited to add...it's interesting that so many of our gardens are truly international...I've also just planted a Bolivian Fuchsia. Perhaps we should have small flags for our gardens, showing the plant's point of origin...lol..

Hello wcgypsy, our little farm ( 6,2 acres) is only 5 miles away from downtown, although quite in open country. Starting from scratch opens doors for inventiveness! I'm attaching a picture that I've taken llast srping from my desk window. In the foreground are the greenhouses complex plus barn . In the distance, the N.Huapi lake and mountains. thank you Arturo

Somewhere I have seen a map where the USDA zones were adapted for Europe, but I've never seen anything like that done for South America.

Oh! Look at those greenhouses! I am so envious.....a good sized greenhouse to enjoy with our winter rains here....that would do just fine!

Yes, it's been quite fun.....I came here with an idea of what plants I would use, things that I was never able to grow in Southern California. I was looking forward to it, really. .....and then my friend kept saying, "here, take this, take this, take this..." and because she was fond of unusual things, normally not found here...that's what I had to work with. I would look at these plants and think, "Okay, what will we do with this one?

I will never come across these plants here again....we are in a small town of 7,000 and good nurseries are not available. I come from an area that had many, many good nurseries, but brought only one small trailer load with me. We have been here 1 1/2 years now and things are growing well.

I sure do want those greenhouses....lol..

Arturo, we would love to know what you're growing.......enlighten us, please....

I've also just planted a recovering crinodendron hookerianum...also from your area....Chilean Lantern Tree.

Hello wcgypsy, It is winter now, and today it is overcast with probability that rain may turn into snow, Winters area coldish, it hardly ever reaches to -5°c that is 23°F; so only some years the ground freezes interrupting our growing season to a full stop. This may last perhaps a fortnight. As winter progresses, ( plus forecasts in sites such as Accuweather) it seems that we will continue with a mild winter. Yesterday we finished the expansion of our heated greenhouse which now has 5,200 sq.ft. We grow fresh vegetables organically to provide for our local (only) consumers and deliver the produce straight to their homes. Gradually we try to expand the buisiness covering as much as possible all along the year with the maximum diversity possible ( that is what we have learnt how to). I'm the planner and my godson who is an agronomist like myself, actually in charge of the operation. I'm already 66 and life has burdenned me with some ailments that I am learning how to swimm thru. My godson is only 40 and has a long life ahead. So, I select activities that are within the scope of what I personally can achieve. Hopefully, years to come we will be adding fruit trees under cover also along with the dairy products that we already have ( milch sheep, east Friesians); soon our ewes will be lambing; later on I milk them by hand and we share the milk processing: fresh cream, yoghurt, crean cheese, Mozzarella and later some grating cheese. The present state of our farm was the result of almost 20 years of figuring out with my late wife how we could provide us, healthy, nutritious organic vegetables and fruits grown in a beatiful and friendly environment. The buisiness developed later when my godson showed up and we decided to share our lifestyle with others. Pleasure gardening grew alonside and I'm at the stage that some gardens need renovation and others are simply new.: the dissadvantage of having plenty room. Eventually I'll have a plant list with all of what I'm growing nowadays. This season I'm setting new rose bushes into a new formal rose garden. I'm targeting onto a collection of only fragrant roses, of which some will have to be the old antique roses. In summer I grow Dahlias which I produce from seed. Also this summer as part of the general renovation scheme I'm adding a few perennial flower beds that include Irises, Scabiosa, Alstroemeria ( Peruvian lily), Crocosmia, Purple coneflower, pinks, yarrow, perennial oriental poppy, salvia (sage), lavender. I also prepare my flats with annuals such as marigolds, snapdragons, petunias, cosmos,larkspur etc. In due course of time I'll keep you posted with how things ( seeds and seedlings all the way into flowers ) develop.

Thank you Carol and Kelli, I'll try if I can match something from the Sunset system and that developed for Europe ( including southern Europe) with which we share a simmilar climate pattern. Arturo

How thrilling all that you're doing. I do understand full well that with age some things become more difficult....and yet you can't stop yourself, look at all that you're accomplishing. So good that you have your godson there also....I can remember how much work I could get done at 40 and at 68, all things take much longer. I had not planned to be digging sod....no, I planned to have large trees and jusr ride my mower, but given an empty piece of ground, the plant collector in me takes over....

Regarding "mild winter" for you...is that because, like the rest of us, we're waiting to see how much of an El Nino we may have? I don't know which way it will go here....sounds like a 50-50 chance either way for us. This are would usually get 60 inches or more of rain and yet, in the last two winters that I've experienced, we've received only 30-some inches per year. Just fine with me, but we do need the snow pack and our wells need replenishing.

I see that the rooted piece of Azara that I have also comes from Chile. The friend from whom I've received these Chilean plants spent time living in Peru...perhaps this is where her love for these certain plants springs from....but then she also loves all Australian plants and has not lived there. Perhaps it is better said that we simply love all that grows......

Hampartsum, do you have any puyas? I don't have any but I love the flowers.

Welcome to ATP Arturo I live and garden in southwest Mexico and fit into the USDA zone 11 category. When i want to talk about climate related gardening things, i find members who have the similar zone that i do and can grow the same kind of plants that i grow. For example, people from the south of India and I have all the same plants in our gardens, also people in SW Texas and south Florida grow many of the same plants that i do.

Here is a link to find your USDA zone equivalent. All you need to do is figure out what the minimum and maximum temperatures in C degrees or F degrees are where you garden. Then look at the information in the green highlighted table in this link. The Table has USDA zone, min. temps and max temps in C and F and then you will know what zone is equivalent to your climate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

There are many Forums on ATP that are not regionally oriented, for example "All Things Gardening", "Ask a Question", etc. so i don't think you want to limit yourself to a particular US region because you will be missing a lot. There are also "Plant ID" and "Insect" ID' forums that are not regional. You might want to check the Forums List to find the other non-regional Forums. We love to share information and photos; to learn and to help. You will find a friendly and knowledgeable group of people here to do those things with.

That's excellent, Beverly...I'm sure many will benefit from that info.

How are you faring with your volcano down there?

Hi Sherry...you know i was just going to ask you about the wild fire situation in and near Crescent City and also the drought situation, and how your remodel is coming along.

The volcanic activity has been steady from the end of November 2014 through mid-July 2015. It blew its dome to smithereens in Jan/Feb, built another one, and blew big time again in Jun/Jul (a 100 year event it was called). As long as the activity was explosive, we didn't have any problems with ash here in Colima City because the ash blows way up and then generally to the northeast. In July, there were several pyroclastic avalanches down the western slope (toward but not threatening my backyard) and the avalanches brought us 2 dustings of ash; one moderate and one light. I stood in the garden and watched as it silently turned gray. The ash is very fine, like baby powder. Altogether in my location, we have been fortunate. I believe there is still lava and other volcanic debris flowing but very slowly now. We lost wildlife and domestic animals as i don't remember how many metric tons of mountain filled ravines and valleys on the mountain but there was no human loss of life. The volcanic ash does not hose off, but now after a number of rains, the garden is green again, the air clear, and it looks like Spring. It is funny but i planted my garden in February (which is prime time for planting here)...nothing wanted to grow, there were no butterflies or other garden critters...it was eerie. You know, i think the plants and insects can sense that there is magma building in the cone and they just didn't want to grow. The weeds even didn't want to grow. It has been a very strange, but interesting year so far. Now from late July suddenly everything wants to grow. The plants are putting out new Spring green leaves like crazy and the few butterflies are leaving eggs on the few host plants that survived and are big enough. I saw a honey bee yesterday. All good signs...all glorious. I haven't been up to the mountain yet. Now how about you?

Almost everyone, everywhere says that it has, indeed, been a very strange year. As far as your plants not growing in the normal fashion, I do believe that the natural world senses what's going on, the animals, the plants, our bodies. There are reasons when our plants do not respond as usual. I hope for the best possible outcome for what's going on there....

We will be working on old houses forever, or until we no longer can, which on some days does not seem too far away....

True, there are many fires going on here and I really did not expect this before we moved up here. I was so relieved to get away from our wildfire situations down south, most of those fires to me seemed to be arson related and here we have fires of lightning origin...still, I'd rather deal with the lightning...and we are sitting almost on the beach, so I don't feel threatened. I would not move 20 miles inland...too hot and surrounded by trees all too likely to burn...

Other than getting older by the day, everything is good....lol..

Hello Kelli, As I understand Puyas are ground bromeliads found growing wild in the páramos of Colombia all the way south to northwestern Argentina, very high up in the mountains, with mist covering the mornings on the open steppes. I agree in that they are particularly elegant, somewhat similar to some Yuccas and also in an other sense to Cordyline. I wouldn't know how to get access to plant sources for Puyas here, since it comes from a distinctly peculiarand rather unique ecosystem . I'll do some research in the RHS about growing these beatiful plants in different environmental conditions, and will post with what I find. Thank you. Arturo.

Hello Beverly, I'm surprised with similarities of your description with what we live every day here. Three volcanoes erupted with the last 8 years that have had direct effect on us, the first Chaiten in 2008, the second Puyehue, just across our border perhaps no more then 60 kms away from home april 26 2011 and the last april 24 this year. The last was just baby powder that covered everything with very dusty ashes. The previous one threw tons of volcanic debris some the size of pebbles ,most a very coarse sand and days long of fine ashes that covered everywhere blown east and west reaching N.Zealand and southern Brazil! We are still cleaning up and restoring our gardens. During some days our sheep had to be kept inside the barn all day long, to avoid the dense dust in the air and later only allowed in the corrals. before a relieving rainfall washed the grass blades of the pasture. In my early years as a student in the early 1970's a professor, predicted that the world's climate would be changing very fast and warming. His prediction and admonition ended by being precise and ever since we settled in Bariloche we haven't had a growing season quite the same than any other. Perhaps that explains my quest for patterns around the world from which we can all learn. Perhaps it may be a losing pursuit. For instance some wild bees and domestic bees have disappeared almost fully. Last year pollination was done by bumblebees, two introduced species that crossed over from Chile. On the other hand Argentine red army ants have consistently increased their populations since we started 25 years ago, specially the ashy years. To his prediction I can add another variable: extremes are becoming much more frequent. Plants seem bewildered and sometimes have weird behavior. Last summer our tart or sour cherries flowered twice the second time with ripe cherries on the same branch!. I'm puzzled to what other kind of indicators they are sensing to. Traditional physiology does not explain the phenomena I see every day. Thanks also for your suggestion in checking other Forums. I'm just learning how to interact with the different areas and find my place where I can contribute in every direction. Arturo,