East Coast Vancouver Island weather

Richard Starkeson wrote:

Diane,
Do your fuschias suffer from the fuschia mite?  Or has it not reached
Vancouver?.
Also curious about your climate - what is the average
winter low teperature, and how many days of the really cold weather do
you get?
Here in San Francisco, I have the same (early-blooming this year)
display of the tree dahlia (was it you who wanted one, but could not
find in Canada?) and the Montanoa grandiflora that David Feix is also
enjoying.  Also Salvia mexicana in bloom.

Reply
_____

So far, I have only read about fuchsia mites in California!!!

Winter blooms are early here this year too - like the Mahonia
'Charity' and the Cyclamen hederifolium is just about over.

I have given up trying to find commercial seeds of Dahlia imperialis.
While the tubers are available in Washington and Oregon, it would cost
me up towards $100 Canadian to import them with US exchange, permits
etc.  But I would love to grow it here.

Now, more than you ever wanted to know about our climate:

Vegetatively, the biogeoclimatic zone near the east coast of Vancouver
Island is the Moist Maritime Coastal Douglas-fir.   Using the Sunset
Western Garden Book, we are probably in Zone 4-5.  This classification
is not the same as the US Dept. of Agriculture's, which is based on
winter minimum temperatures, but instead also includes summer high
temperatures, length of growing season, humidity and rainfall
patterns.  We are USDA Zone 8-9.  Over a 20-y period, winter lows
range from -7 to -22 °C. The coldest temperature I am aware of was in
October, 1956, when it reached a low of 0 F. (we used F. then) which
is the equivalent of -18 C.

We are in the rain-shadow of the Van. Island mountain ranges which are
only 15-20 miles inland from the coast so do not get all the rain that
creates the rainforests of Vancouver Island's West Coast.  So it is a
Mediterranean climate, with little or no rainfall for 5 to 8 weeks in
the summer, but temperatures in summer more moderate.

We are famous for the variable microclimates on the Georgia Strait.
But we do get some surprises like occasional heavy snowfalls and what
we call the Alaska Express, the last one in 1989.  Following a mild
winter, a cold front moved in on Feb.1st and the temp plunged from
+10C to -15C overnight with gale-force winds and no snow cover or
precipitation, followed by two weeks of drying, freezing wind.  (So
great were the losses that the Victoria Horticulture Society gave out
black armbands at the next meeting!)

Average monthly temperature and rainfall in Parksville, the largest
center nearby:

Month Avg. Temperature (°C) Avg. Rainfall (mm)
January 4.7             147
February 7.7             97
March 9.7                 83
April 13.2                 51
May 17.4                 40
June 20.3                 38
July 23.5                    23
August 23.0                 47
September 19.5             45
October 13.8             98
November 8.2          132
December 5.8             166

All-in-all, it is a great misconception that the further north you go,
the colder it gets.  Most of our winter weather systems come in over
the North Pacific, hitting Oregon and Washington first, and often miss
us entirely.  (US weather forecasters are fond of implying that ALL
cold weather comes from Canada!)  Our greatest cold comes from outflow
from the mainland of B.C. but that is tempered by the Georgia Strait.
While Victoria on the southern tip of  Van. Island records warmer
temperatures than we do, they also get more wind.  Our climate is more
protected, more moderate.

I'm sure that is more than you wanted to know, Richard.

Diane Pertson
Note:  I had a site at Parksville & Qualicum Beach Online - here it
what is left of it:
http://www.zapbc.com/columns/nn/
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