Sympathy

I grew up in zone 6, so I don't expect any sympathy for the travails of the the California garden. I know how lucky I am to grow these plants. But I'm not sure continental climate gardeners understand how literally brown the grass is on this side. First of all, we don't have enough winter chill to grow a lot of things you take for granted: tulips, apple trees, herbaceous peonies, my grandparents' snowdrops.

[Again, please note that I am not complaining about the the lack of cold. Why do you think I moved here?]

Conversely, it doesn't get hot enough in the summer to grow many plants acceptably: tomatoes, the gardenia, possibly this Hedychium, which is happy enough, but may or may not decide to flower. And the wonderfully fragrant flowers, notwithstanding the interesting quilted effect of the foliage, are the whole point. (The lack of heat is a zone 17 issue, not a zone 9 issue).

And of course there is no rain for 7 months. This shows up not just in brown grass and absurd water bills but also, for example, in the invariably burnt tips of the Hedychium and similar plants -- and a very dead feeling in the garden come September. (This problem is slightly ameliorated by the previous one in zone 17).

Moral: even paradise* has its drawbacks.

* Horticulturally speaking only, of course.