hi

good luck ...with the new house

rain is almost as important as soil.. but without knowing soil structure... i dont know how a chart can be easily applied across the spectrum ...

hopefully others know that which you are looking for .... all i am trying to say.. is that there are other variables .. as important.. if not more ...

it might do you better to give us the area you are moving to.. so that peeps near there might chime in ...

the other alternative.. might be to research public gardens in the area .. and email them for suggestions ...

the final alternative.. is that once you get there.. you start taking pix.. and have us.. or the NAME THAT PLANT FORUM ... start IDing stuff you see in the area ...

i hope you enjoy the garden experience of moving to an area so diverse.. from that which you came ....

ken

I don't know if such a thing exists. The need for rainfall or water will vary depending on the type of soil, amount of wind, level of shade, presence of mulch, the actual latitude and angle of the sunlight, etc. I would see if there are gardening groups where you are going and try to speak to people there about what they are able to grow. I would bet perennials with deep tap roots do better than annuals, but I understand a preference for annuals. Good luck with the move.

Martha

Sorry for the relatively duplicate answer. I was typing while Ken was posting.

Martha

great minds think alike ...

and then there are those of us with kids.. who often cant remember yesterday .. lol ...

but we remember garden stuff.. lol ...

ken

Awww, darn it. I had looked and looked and figured that this would be the answer-- but I thought it never hurts to ask. There are no local gardening groups there-- Jordan has limited gardening groups in general, especially in the NW villages where most people have very limited to no gardens as we conceive of them in our American/European style.

What I have seen people growing when I've been there a few times are snapdragons in the winter as well as calendula. Sunflowers are a food crop. Vegetable-wise, in the area we're looking at, tomatoes, okra, cucumbers, melons, and other things grow with little to no irrigation as long as they are planted early enough in the season (to yes, form that root system).

The soil from what I can tell from looking at various geological surveys is a silty clay. The pH is about 7.9. I remember it being windy all the time every time I was there in various seasons. Shade only happens if you have a building or under trees you plant-- not much of the original oak forests left :) Olives, pomegranates, and figs are native to the area/grow very well, as does citrus. Bougainvillea, hollyhocks, prickly pears, jasmine, and roses seem to be the main decorative plants. Date palms don't make it up that far and start about 15 miles to the south, and speaking with my husband I think I can rule it to be about a USDA 9b climate-- with rare, occasional frosts lasting a few hours in the night every few years. Basically, it frosts often enough that I noticed a distinct lack of tropicals (even desert tropicals) although to the south in the city 25 miles away I noticed someone who had very mature Euphorbias, so clearly that yard doesn't freeze.

From what I can determine, it's a lot like Riverside County, California for those who know that climate more.

Latitude-wise, it's about 32.5500*N. Not quite-- a few miles north of that-- but I grabbed the closest major city.

I was thinking that maybe there would be a reference for CA gardeners which may correspond some to the area since rainfall and climate are similar, and soil pH is also going to mirror it somewhat. I'll keep my eyes peeled. Thanks for the replies!

Do you know how much supplemental watering you'll be able to do? Have you looked up what sorts of flowers are native to that area? I visited Nairobi, Kenya some years ago, and the bougainvillea was gorgeous and grew everywhere. You could develop a collection of succulents, which can have stunning blossoms. How long do you anticipate living there?

Martha

I would anticipate living there until I die, but I'm not sure how long that will be lol. I don't think there will be much supplemental watering. They ration water, and most people live off the rain water the collect in the winter in cisterns. I obviously don't want to dip into drinking/cooking/bathroom water, but we were thinking to work on a grey water system for the garden. So there may be some, but I don't want to count on it.

I have a ton of succulents and cacti in mind if I can get my hands on them! It's in a way so different than here, as we have so many mail order and other nurseries and there it's entirely limited with no mail order and very few nurseries.