Mediterranean is a Big Word

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Not long ago  we took a family trip from southern California to Silicon Valley.  We travelled through the Tehachapi Mountains, the San Joaquin Valley, and the inland foothills on the way north, then south through the coast ranges to Santa Cruz, Monterey, and Carmel, and on through Big Sur, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura.  We covered a lot of ground. For the entire journey we were in the California Floristic Province, or the mediterranean climate region of California, and yet the climate and vegetation varied greatly from place to place.

What I've found in our own garden in Simi Valley, a hot, dry inland valley north of Los Angeles, is that the greatest difference in mediterranean climates (for a gardener, anyway) is determined by distance from the ocean or sea.  I've found many coastal species, whether native like Myrica californica or introduced like Leptospermum scoparium, languish in my inland garden regardless of the irrigation schedule.

Can any of you gardening in inland mediterranean areas recommend plants that have thrived for you?  I've had good luck with Olea, Laurus, Melaleuca, Heteromeles, Arbutus, Cistus, Ceanothus, Lavandula, Rosmarinus, and Limonium, bad luck with Myrica, Leptospermum, Viburmum, most Arctostaphylos, and Acacia, and middling success with most succulents and bulbs.

Anyone else's triumphs or failures would be welcome!

Ben Armentrout-Wiswall

Simi Valley, California