Northern California freeze damage data

[Than]

Floridians have theirs, South Cal have theirs (aka Palmpedia), time for those of us who live in North California (or in similar climates across the globe, like the northern Mediterranean coast) to make a freeze damage record. I guess most of this region belongs to the zones 9a to 10a with rainy winters.

It would be useful to see how different species react to the freezes we get. So, if you have had frosts/freezes in your garden, please let us know how your plants have fared. Palms or not. Later I will combine everything in a spreadsheet. Please write temperatures, species of plants and observed damage.

Personally, I cannot contribute anything yet as our winter has been absurdly warm so far and we've had no real cold. 

Edited January 22, 2024 by Than

[Darold Petty]

My garden suffered several frosts in the 1980's and 1990's,  the worst was minus 3-4C for four nights.  Now,  the garden has not experienced any significant frost for the last 20 years.  Anyone who denies global warming is not paying attention. 

[Silas_Sancona]

12 minutes ago, Darold Petty said:

My garden suffered several frosts in the 1990's,  the worst was minus 3-4C for four nights.  Now,  the garden has not experienced any significant frost for the last 20 years.  Anyone who denies global warming is not paying attention. 

  Yep.. Won't say the area has been totally  frost free since, but far fewer frosty mornings / " serious ", widespread  freeze events back in San Jose since '90 as well..  Santa Cruz?  Pretty  much frost free now..

" Tropical " stuff watched (  ...n' planted )  since is still there..  Cassia leptophylla,  Ceiba speciosa, Jacaranda,  my Trumpet Trees  ...TONS of Pygmys / older and younger Kings ..The lone Royal /  -at least- 1 larger Plumeria specimen observed in the ground thru at least one chillier winter so far / various " exotic " fruit trees folks are trialing out there now  ..And all the other unusual palms in San Jose Nor Cal. Palm Society member's collections i'm sure you've seen.. 

..And it will just keep getting milder ..even if there are still the occasional, frosty 33-36F  morning every now and again ..For now at least.

 

[Darold Petty]

I wrote in a hasty, careless manner about my temperature lows, .. the worst frost was 2-3 C,  not 3-4 C , sorry.

[Than]

Yup, SF is zone 10b anyway, so I wouldn't expect much frost. Still, there will always be marginal plants, even in a zone 10b or 11a.. cyrtostachys renda, cocos, terminalia.. you know. So there is always interesting data to share. Today I spent 30 min outside trying to put the frost fleece back onto my Terminalia catappa. The crazy northern wind that's been blowing since yesterday keeps taking it off no matter how many heavy stones I put on it! Even though it is not that cold (min. 6C last night) I worry about damage from this wind. Let's see...

Anyway, I hope you guys get no frosts this winter, but if anyone does in north Cali, Italy, Spain etc, let us know what happened! 

[Than]

Does Bombax Ceiba grow in North California?

[Josue Diaz]

I'm right on the dividing line between Northern and Southern California - Fresno is no-man's land. When I say I'm part of Southern California, people say I'm not south enough - a fair point since my climate is very different from most of what people think of as Southern California (Los Angeles Basin, Orange County, San Diego...etc). If I say I am in Northern California, I am told my climate is much more like that of southern California. In short, I get much hotter and much colder than any coastal city in California - although recently,  we seem to be a zone 10a location. For the past 10 years, I don't recall going below 31/32F - and that happens perhaps once or twice each year.  I think it's fair to say that the occasional, frosty 33-36F is what we get in Fresno every year.  Fresno has very large cassia leptophylla, cassia fistula, several ceiba, brachychiton acerifolius, jacaranda, inga edulis, several large plumeria in people's yards... etc. I even have a Spathodea that refuses to die. 

On 1/22/2024 at 9:22 AM, Silas_Sancona said:

  Yep.. Won't say the area has been totally  frost free since, but far fewer frosty mornings / " serious ", widespread  freeze events back in San Jose since '90 as well..  Santa Cruz?  Pretty  much frost free now..

" Tropical " stuff watched (  ...n' planted )  since is still there..  Cassia leptophylla,  Ceiba speciosa, Jacaranda,  my Trumpet Trees  ...TONS of Pygmys / older and younger Kings ..The lone Royal /  -at least- 1 larger Plumeria specimen observed in the ground thru at least one chillier winter so far / various " exotic " fruit trees folks are trialing out there now  ..And all the other unusual palms in San Jose Nor Cal. Palm Society member's collections i'm sure you've seen.. 

..And it will just keep getting milder ..even if there are still the occasional, frosty 33-36F  morning every now and again ..For now at least.

 

 

On 1/22/2024 at 8:53 AM, Darold Petty said:

My garden suffered several frosts in the 1980's and 1990's,  the worst was minus 3-4C for four nights.  Now,  the garden has not experienced any significant frost for the last 20 years.  Anyone who denies global warming is not paying attention. 

I'm a Fresno County Master Gardener, and have recently taken up planting a plot at a local demonstration garden. Most of the other beds in the garden are full of tried-n-true, super hardy zone 9 stuff. I've started incorporating a few more exotic things - bismarckia, passiflora, bauhinia, aloe hybrids... and almost all of the feedback I get is that they (the years' long master gardeners) didn't know you could grow that here! and almost always, they will follow up with a comment about how winters in Fresno are much warmer and drier now than they have been in the past. 

[Silas_Sancona]

7 minutes ago, Josue Diaz said:

I'm right on the dividing line between Northern and Southern California - Fresno is no-man's land. When I say I'm part of Southern California, people say I'm not south enough - a fair point since my climate is very different from most of what people think of as Southern California (Los Angeles Basin, Orange County, San Diego...etc). If I say I am in Northern California, I am told my climate is much more like that of southern California. In short, I get much hotter and much colder than any coastal city in California - although recently,  we seem to be a zone 10a location. For the past 10 years, I don't recall going below 31/32F - and that happens perhaps once or twice each year.  I think it's fair to say that the occasional, frosty 33-36F is what we get in Fresno every year.  Fresno has very large cassia leptophylla, cassia fistula, several ceiba, brachychiton acerifolius, jacaranda, inga edulis, several large plumeria in people's yards... etc. I even have a Spathodea that refuses to die. 

 

I'm a Fresno County Master Gardener, and have recently taken up planting a plot at a local demonstration garden. Most of the other beds in the garden are full of tried-n-true, super hardy zone 9 stuff. I've started incorporating a few more exotic things - bismarckia, passiflora, bauhinia, aloe hybrids... and almost all of the feedback I get is that they (the years' long master gardeners) didn't know you could grow that here! and almost always, they will follow up with a comment about how winters in Fresno are much warmer and drier now than they have been in the past. 

Yep.. heard pretty much the same things when i'd bring in " exotic " stuff / show examples of said group of plants growing around San Jose.. 

..Not quite " So Cal " enough  ..Not quite " Nor Cal " enough  ...and not quite " AZ  " enough ( Rejoice, lol )   You really are in no mans land  Josue,  Kidding of course..

Honestly, think you have one of the better  " Central CA " -broadly speaking-  climates..

Yea,  it can get chilly -at times-  during the winters there in Fresno, but it is far from " cold " -for any length of time at least..  You definitely experience plenty of AZ -esque heat in summer.. Warmer nights as well ..At least from what i've observed when i have checked in during the heatwaves there  ..Where as even San Jose can run ..a touch chilly.. even during many of the warmer spells i remember.  Fresno would win for stuff that wants heat..  You also can experience warmer winter days than i remember experiencing in San Jose during a winter " heat " wave too.

Rainfall?  you get enough -when it's wet- i'm sure, ..but it isn't as wet -for as long as it could be at times- back in San Jo.  ...so things that don't like wet + cold in winter stress less ..Or is what it seems. 

Cold / wet Tule Fog days can occur there but, sure seems like they have diminished in # over the past couple decades.. 

..Don't hesitate to correct me if anything i've written is incorrect..  You live there / know your weather..  i lived nearby  ...in " Nor Cal " ( ..Not really honestly, ha ha )  hoping to move somewhere a tad warmer ( ..but not in an oven, lol ) 

You've prob. forgotten about it but, still have your Opuntia cuts ..Have had issues w/ the batch i started, which is why i hadn't messaged w/ an update.. Anyway..  Any other interesting Cen. / S. AZ / Sonoran region stuff you might be interested in trialing in the demo garden you're working on,  that might be tough to access,  let me know.

[Than]

On 2/6/2024 at 2:28 AM, Josue Diaz said:

I'm right on the dividing line between Northern and Southern California - Fresno is no-man's land. When I say I'm part of Southern California, people say I'm not south enough - a fair point since my climate is very different from most of what people think of as Southern California (Los Angeles Basin, Orange County, San Diego...etc). If I say I am in Northern California, I am told my climate is much more like that of southern California. In short, I get much hotter and much colder than any coastal city in California - although recently,  we seem to be a zone 10a location. For the past 10 years, I don't recall going below 31/32F - and that happens perhaps once or twice each year.  I think it's fair to say that the occasional, frosty 33-36F is what we get in Fresno every year.  Fresno has very large cassia leptophylla, cassia fistula, several ceiba, brachychiton acerifolius, jacaranda, inga edulis, several large plumeria in people's yards... etc. I even have a Spathodea that refuses to die. 

OK I think the existence of a Spathodea alone is enough to tell us that you are zone 10! 

Tbh when I made this thread, I checked California's map to see where Fresno, Sacramento, San Francisco etc are located and my immediate reaction was "this is not north California, this is central!" But because I noticed that people from those places refer to their area as Nor Cali I thought OK, probably that's how it's known and I went along. Should've been "North & Central" to be precise. 

[Than]

On 2/6/2024 at 2:28 AM, Josue Diaz said:

Fresno has very large cassia leptophylla, cassia fistula, several ceiba, brachychiton acerifolius, jacaranda, inga edulis, several large plumeria in people's yards... etc.

Very similar to what I see here too. Jacarandas are very common and they keep their foliage during winter. There is one big plumeria tree and ceibas do fine. Inga edulis... there is only one young specimen, coincidentally in my garden 😁. I only got it 3 days ago so let's see how it goes. 

Any bombax ceiba in your area? I really love that tree but I think it would be too much to ask for my climate.

[Than]

Has Northern or Central California seen any cold waves this winter? 

Here we've had the warmest winter in history according to the official data and no "proper" cold waves. So nothing to report about cold damage. Actually this is the first time my Ficus Lyrata didn't drop its leaves and even plumerias kept them till February!

[Troychycarpus]

I havent had anything below 38F by the lake in Oakland this winter. Wet but not very cold.

[Than]

I removed the fleece from my Terminalia Catappa yesterday. Despite the ridiculously mild winter the top half and all branches were rotten. Only the lower half of the trunk is still alive. I chopped the rotten parts. Let's see but I am not optimistic for next winter.

[Than]

Feel free to share any observations from the winter so far! North California or the Mediterranean.