Vlad Pomajzl

Cloudforest Expert

 

Posts: 989

Joined: Fri Nov 26, 2010 10:34 pm

Climate Zone: 8

About the same minimum temps in the winter as here, yet they grow giant Butias, Braheas and Jubaeas. Here is the weather forecast for the next week. Click on different week days at the top. Last year, for example, not once did my temperature here on Saltspring go over 28C:

http://www.meteoswiss.admin.ch/web/en/w ... ecast.html

Gord

Cloudforest Expert

 

Posts: 611

Joined: Fri Feb 11, 2011 4:27 pm

Climate Zone: USDA8a

I think that is the key reason, Vlad. They get much hotter summers than we do despite the fact that their winters can be colder than ours on occasion. However, I think the moderating effects of the lake also raise the winter temps higher than what's recorded at the weather station.

Gord

Cloudforest Expert

 

Posts: 611

Joined: Fri Feb 11, 2011 4:27 pm

Climate Zone: USDA8a

http://www.climate-charts.com/Locations/s/SW06770.php

stefpix

 

Posts: 12

Joined: Sun Aug 07, 2011 11:29 am

Climate Zone: 7a or 6b

I am originally from Milan Italy that is 50 / 70 Km south of Lugano. You never see Palm trees in Milan, where winters are kind of cold and humid, with lots of rain and some freezes (even though the urban area is warmer than the surrounding countryside). Liguria, about 100 Km south of Milan has a lot milder climate than the bordering regions of Lombardy and Piedmont.

davidmdzn7

Cloudforest Expert

 

Posts: 101

Joined: Fri Dec 31, 2010 6:05 am

Climate Zone: 7

I saw some Trachys from the train when crossing the Po Valley, but I surely agree with the native Italian that this area is not as mild as the Lakes region. I assume the OP also means "or Locarno" as the climates are very similar, in spite of Lago di Lugano being rather smaller.

Maggiore - my G-d, what more is there to say that I haven't said already. The 87F/30C being reported there is a warm spell...the summer average is no higher than 80F and my hotel in Stresa was considered quite posh but did not have air conditioning. (La Palma!) At night, in September at least, a cool wind picked up off the water (never goes about 58F and of course does get very cold in winter, either) and acted as natural air conditioning. Still, I would suspect it _sometimes_ gets too hot there to have air-conditioning. If I were visiting in JJA, I'd certainly select a hotel with it. I enjoyed that magnificent slumber that comes with fresh air...
My thoughts, the winters are probably a bit sunnier than yours...I think that's been established previously by postings of # of rainy days. None the less, they are a very rainy climate BUT still having an unambiguous summer maximum, unlike your very definite winter maximum. Maybe something about that, coupled with the warmer summers, encourages the plants to complete their growth in the warm season and go into hardening mode...maybe that doesn't happen as well in the PNW. Look at how dry the winter is compared to summer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locarno I believe plants somehow "know" the difference between natural rainfall and irrigation, I won't digress into why that might be but it's totally scientifically plausible. The lushness there is simply unbelievable. Trachy seedlings are everywhere, practically forming spiky looking "lawns". They had HUGE Gunneras on Isola Madre...clearly a sign of a place that is not hitting 31C every day in summer. There was a Fagus 'Rosea-Marginata' at Villa Taranto, only planted in the 1950s IIRC, that had to be close to 25m with a huge trunk of 1m in diameter at least. By comparison I know of one in the suburbs of DC that has grow to maybe 20 ft. since being planted in the late 70s. In other words, 1/2 the growth rate! Even at Chanticleer, PA it is grown as a glacially paced espalier. To see one as such a huge tree was mind blogging. Sir Peter Smithers could have chosen to build his garden anywhere, and it's not surprising he chose the western Italian Lakes region. (supposedly, the soil around Como is more alkaline and less satisfactory to Ericaceae, I believe Steven the German fellow on GOTE pointed that out. As my train whizzed past Como, my impression was it was not quite as lush as the shores of Maggiore. But the scenery is striking as well.)

And, let's face it, I saw a freakin' Araucaria columaris/heterophylla on Isola Brissago, along with lemon & orange trees, mature Phoenix, 35' Acacias, a Euc. darn near 100'...clearly the islands and best coastal areas are essentially 9b, even if they had a cold bite this last year. I think if they secretly covered the entire island with Tyvek in winter, someone would have noticed by now...hehe. Nowhere in the PNW is that mild, and we all know it. The Isola Madre gardeners told me -4C was the typical winter low: 9b. It's just hard for us to fathom a place like that is so "cold" on average in winter. Certainly there's no 9b place in the US like that. Even coastal Washington or Oregon is going to have warmer winter nights.

stefpix

 

Posts: 12

Joined: Sun Aug 07, 2011 11:29 am

Climate Zone: 7a or 6b

I am not sure how much sunny the winters are there. I was born and grew up in Milan and now I am in NYC. I observed more sunny winter days here than in Milan (which is more or less in the middle of the Po valley). In the Po valley it can rain for a whole day straight or more, it can be cloudy for a week. In NYC there is more variability, probably for being closer to the ocean and being exposed to more wind. It can rain in the morning and then a few hours later the sun comes out.

I am supposed to go for a week in Milan soon I can look at some gardens there and take photos. I do not remember seeing palms nor fig trees. But lots of Horse chestnuts, Poplars, Plames, Magnolias in the streets. The lake region that is so close (at the foot of the Pre-alps mountains) has for sure a different vegetation. Como is 40 Km north of Milan.

davidmdzn7

Cloudforest Expert

 

Posts: 101

Joined: Fri Dec 31, 2010 6:05 am

Climate Zone: 7

Stefpix,
No disagreement; it's striking how the landscape changes on the train from Milan to Stresa. It reminds one of parts of California where lush coastal scenery gives way to the drier interior valleys of Sonoma County. Though the Po Valley isn't quite that dry of course...deciduous trees can obviously fend for themselves, but the railway verges had plenty of browned-out and scraggly looking weeds...you get to Stresa and it seems like if you stood in one place for too long, the ivy would start to cover you!

Most of the US is, as we've discussed on another board at some point, generally-speaking incredibly sunny, year round. The only areas that approach European or rest-of-European-culture-outposts levels of cloudiness are the PNW in winter, and upstate NY, and maybe a few other pockets. Still, Seattle is sunnier over the course of the year than what most people think of as its European cognate, London. The first week I was in London in July, 1993, it drizzled every day. That just doesn't happen in Seattle. Sydney, which it's safe to say would seem like the idea non-European climate to many Europeans, has 20 more rainy days than NYC. Of course, Sydney doesn't have to deal with northeasters dumping 50cm of snow at a time, but that's another story. Sao Paolo and Santiago, CL are also less sunny than NYC. And NYC isn't even very sunny by US standards.

stefpix

 

Posts: 12

Joined: Sun Aug 07, 2011 11:29 am

Climate Zone: 7a or 6b

I am in Milan for a few days.

I think less sun than NYC and slightly milder witers.
Tiliums are taller and I saw a lot of Oleanders in bloom.

Actually a few fan palms. A sequoia.

you can see photos of parks and stuff in this album that is mixed with other photos.

i am in a hurry and access to internet is occasional

public album no ligin needed

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 5018f9f213


https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 5018f9f213