On May 31, 5:46 pm, tenplay wrote:
My wife and I are moving from Olympia, Washington, to Sacramento,
California, in September for a new job. In the Olympia area, we have
fairly mild temperatures since we are at sea level and a lot of rain.
So everything stays green (WA is called the Evergreen State). In
contrast, I heard that Sacramento is quite dry and gets very hot in the
summer. Besides cacti, what do you have in your gardens? Is there
strict rationing of water during the warmer months? We like to take
care of our garden in Washington. But we are wondering if it would be
better to live in a condo in Sacramento or a residential community where
garden maintenance is provided. Thanks for any information.


Gardening in Sacto is a pleasure. Yes, it is really different from
Oly
and it IS hot and dry. No rain here in summer, temps now are high 80s
day and high 50s night. You will have some marine air and breezes that
keep it cooler in summer at times. There is a great combination of
cold
enough and hot enough to give you a tremendous variety of plants to
grow.
No we are not restricted to cacti! LOL Fruits that need some winter
chill do well, and shrubs and perennials that need heat thrive.
( However
if you do like succulents there is a fantastic variety of those that
you
never imagined....shapes and colors! ) Most plants grow rapidly and
large in Sac. It will almost certainly seem to be a very alien place
compare to WA, hills will be brown in summer, no rain, no snow
(but plenty to the east in the Sierra)
Are you familiar with Sunset Western Garden Book? If not see if
you can locate a copy and read what they have to say, then browse
thru the book and find all the plants you can grow in Sunset zone 14!
Definitely if you like to garden you will need your own space. You
can garden all year if you like. Winter rains are variable: sometimes
quite a lot and other years not a lot. I am not aware of any water
restrictions in many years. Yes, there are HOT spells, not too long.

I live about 80 miles north of Sacto where we have usually a little
hotter summers and a little colder winters. I love it: gardenias are
blooming, oleander, daylilies, roses, bottlebrush, ferns, tomatoes
are almost ready, ferns, callas; azaleas and camellias in spring;
the list goes on and on. Welcome.
Emilie
NorCal