Everyone knows Southern California has great Weather...
but when you live in weather paradise... you start "splitting hairs" about
who has the best. So we'd like to set the record straight :-)
When we moved to Bonsall in 1997... we thought we were giving up Weather
Paradise in La Costa ( Sunset Western Garden Book, Zone 24) for Solitude
in Bonsall... at the sacrifice of Weather. We were 100% wrong...
Zone 23 is better! Expert
Gardeners agree that the "Sunset
Western Garden Book" plant hardiness zones are the most accurate
available. You don't have to believe a real estate agent's opinion
:-) Here's "Sunset's" description of Bonsall Area Weather:
" ZONE 23 Thermal Belts of Southern California's Coastal
Climate" " This is one of the most favored gardening climates
in North America for the growing of subtropical plants. It could
be called the avocado belt, as this has always been southern California's
best strip for growing that crop. Frosts don't amount to much (it's
an air-drained thermal belt) and most of the time (approximately 85%) it
is under the influence of the Pacific Ocean; only 15% of the time is the
determining influence from the interior. A notorious portion of this
15% is on those days when hot and extremely drying santa-ana winds blow
down the hills and canyons from the mountains and deserts.
Zone 23 lacks either the necessary Summer heat or the Winter cold to
grow successfully some items such as pears, most apples, most peaches.
On the other hand, it enjoys more heat than the neighboring maritime climate,
Zone 24. As an example of that difference, gardenias and oleanders
are recommended for Zone 23 but not Zone 24.
In the temperature record books, most of Zone 23 fares pretty well as mildness
is concerned. But severe Winters have descended on some sections
of Zone 23 at times, and the net result of this has been to make a surprisingly
spread of low temperatures. Over a twenty-year period, lows ranged
from 38 to 23 degrees F. In recorded history, the lows for different
stations range from 28 to 23 degrees F"