This is a great thread. Here in Isreal we are a country the size of New Jersey that goes from alpine (Mount Herman - which has a ski resort) to extreme desert in the south and everything in between. The PBS wiki page that Norman gave is fantastic. I had not seen it before - there are truly hidden treasures here. Norman wrote: *FYI for new list members, there is a zone system for summer-dry climates onthe http://… <http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/…>Even that is just an approximation, of course, since it doesn't take intoaccount things like soil type and moisture from fog. But it's a startingpoint to understanding the native climate of a particular summer-dormantbulb.* One thing I have never really understood (only one?) and if it could be explained Iwould really appreciate it. The chart combining cold and wet has Coldest Winter Month lows average. This is a puzzle to me as to how to use that info. Is it the average of coldest temp for that month? Isn't the actual lowest temperature more impiortant? I live in Jerusalem - C3 on the chart which has lows average of 40-45 F. Yet we have consistently weeks with nights at freezing, one or two snows a year, sometimes getting a few inches. Definitely frosts. That is generally the limiting factor for most gardening. Is it that geophytes nestled in their insulating bed are more affected by the average than the air temp? Of course, when those cold snaps happen, the winter growers are already above ground... I have seen average lows on many charts and just do not understand how to use it. Thanks! Shmuel Silinsky _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@mailman1.ibiblio.org http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/