Yes, I pretty much think those are zone 9 cities. The only thing that you will have to get used to is watering plants, and anything that grows where you live will need afternoon shade here. Then you should purchase the new Sunset Gardening Book coming out... it is a California gardener's Bible.

You will also have to get used to gardening year round, having prime planting time in the fall and something blooming year round...not at all bad. Our nurseries are open year round and we have "winter annuals" as well as summer ones.
You're gonna love it!

wanda

Having been a midwesterner most of my life I can suggest that you take all the gardening courses from the local Master Gardeners' group wherever you move to because no rules you ever learned apply here.... they're all different. Even the various places you mentioned in CA will have different microclimates because of the Bay Effect.

Good luck!

A Sunset magazine subscription is a MUST for you. Sunset Publishing has many books out, the 'Bible' everyone refers to is specifically, the Sunset Western Garden Book. You can easily tell a good nursery, they will have a copy available for easy reference by customers.

Specifically, you would be Sunset zone 17, which is a large area with many microclimates. Berkeley/Albany are foggier than the Pinole/Fairfield/El Sobrante areas, which are a bit more like Contra Costa County in being a bit warmer and sunnier. Traffic sucks big-time on Hwy 80 so commute times can be very long. Wind can be a problem in the hills. Fire is the big danger in summer. Get accustomed to dry, golden hills with no rain for six months, as opposed to your humid rainy summers. If you don't clear your lot of underbrush or dead weeds by early June, you will get fined hundreds of dollars by the city fire marshals.

Rain here starts in late Oct/early Nov and runs through about April or May. Best planting times start with the rains; otherwise you have to water by hand to baby plants through the dry summers. Big snail and slug problems, this area must single-handedly support the mfg of Sluggo. The majority of us frown heavily on those systemic poisons so beloved by other regions, prefering to garden as organically as possible.

Say goodbye to tulips and delphiniums except as annuals. In return you can grow bougainvillea, tibouchina, bananas and palm trees. There is no such thing as digging your dahlia tubers up for the winter, as long as you have decent drainage. Decent drainage means you either don't have, or have replaced, the hideous adobe clay which can make gardening h**l and is so prevalent in this area. You can't grow apples and peaches take too much work, but citrus grow everywhere without much care so you can laugh at the Safeway charging $1 each for lousy dried up lemons in wintertime when your neighbor is begging you to please take several dozen fat juicy Meyers because they have more than they can use. Older neighborhoods have persimmon, avocado, and plum trees with overgrown blackberry vines everywhere.

Gardening is year round. Clean-up in the garden is year round. There is no 'down time' when you curl up in front of the fire with gardening catalogs and dream of new plants; winter is our greenest, richest time due to the rains. You'll experience 65-degree days in January and 45-degree days in August.

You'll learn to dress in layers. Water and energy conservation will become a major influence on your thinking. You'll learn to hate Southern Californians, if you don't already (excepting the relatives and close friends who live down there, of course). You'll learn to love the Berkeley Bowl, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, and Annie's Annuals. You'll discover why the Prius is the hottest selling car in California, because a short drive is a 50-mile roundtrip and a long drive only when it exceeds 250 miles in a day. You'll learn to avoid Napa and Sonoma in summertime when the roads are clogged with tour buses, and go to Anderson Valley or Livermore County instead.

In short, it will be crazy, alien, and totally unlike anything you can imagine. But you'll probably love it, most people do and stay. Welcome to California!

Jkom51, I couldn't have said it better! Culturally speaking, you hit the nail on the head (although only residents of Berkeley and SF hate Southern California, because they are all transplants who left from there -- we suburban Contra Costans couldn't care less). And I don't think I've ever heard of a 45F day in the middle of summer -- even record low temps don't typically go down that far! But I get your point -- in coastal areas like Richmond, some winter days can be warmer than some summer days, as is possible throughout the state (but only near the water).

Is the Prius really the hottest selling car in CA? That would be good news.

No, Kerrican, us born notherners who've been here awhile still have a grudge with the south over the proposed peripheral canal... steal our water to fill their pools. You build a city in the desert, SOMEBODY'S gotta provide the water!

Marlene here - I truly appreciate all this information!

Keep it coming.

I am a Master Gardener To Be (just a few thousand more volunteer hours to go) but looks like I'll be starting all over in California. One thing we never talked about in class was Sunset zones. Time to get reading!

What about lifestyle? We'll probably be renting cuz homes are SO expensive. I'm used to my beloved Starbucks and shopping areas......... what about nightlife? Or just go into SF?

Thanks again!

Starbucks are everywhere but Peet's of Berkeley is the ticket if you like your French Roast strong enough to melt the spoon.

Shopping is easy. We are the Consumer State with an economy bigger that the nation of India. There's a lot of money here, and where there's money, there's....stores! As an example, there are probably more gourmet chocolatiers in Northern CA than all except a few select cities. We take food seriously. VERY seriously. And you can shop your heart out at malls, or elegant little boutiques, or discount outlets, or support your local neighborhood old-time shops (there's still some left). Don't forget, Williams-Sonoma and The GAP started here in the Bay Area!

Hmm, nightlife -- I'm originally from Chicago which goes all night, so when I first moved here and everything closed down at 1 a.m. I was SHOCKED. So it depends on what you are looking for, I guess. An amazing number of talented people live here, so local theatre/opera/performance art is in virtually every city, at a much more reasonable cost than in SF. You should subscribe to at least the Sunday edition of the SF Chronicle, since the Pink Section lists all the major stuff happening in the City, and also get the local newspaper to get more area-specific news.

And it's considered tacky to ask famous people for their autograph, even if you do find yourself sitting next to Robin Williams or Steven Spielberg in a restaurant.

As for 45F days in summer, try standing on the corner of Pine and Montgomery Streets in the Financial District at 4p when the fog is rushing in. The wind chill factor is easily in the low 40's. I used to walk part-way home when I lived in the Richmond District on 26th and California, and walking into the teeth of that afternoon fog and wind in the middle of summer, was almost as bad as fighting the March winds off Lake Michigan in Chicago. Now that we live in the East Bay, sometimes we get caught by surprise when we visit SF and it's so much colder than back at our house, we always have to remind each other to bring our jackets along.

Welcome to California!

Hi Marlene,

Everyone has given you some great insights. What I can add is that the East Bay has some amazing dining options. -There is really no need to drive into The City for a great dinner out. For instance, Berkeley is known as the "Gourmet Ghetto" for good reason!

Here is a link that might be useful: The Gourmet Ghetto

Another area in the East Bay with great restaurants is Solana Ave. in Albany. I could keep going for hours, but I think you get the idea!

Here is a link that might be useful: Solana Ave.

Oops - That should have been SOLANO Ave...

Marlene, you will love gardening in the Bay Area. My only advice (as much has been proferred already) is to think "Mediterranean". California has the most extreme of the 5 Mediterreanean climates in the world, with the longest dry season, from April to November (though this year was very odd, with some rain into early June). What will prosper are the winter-growing plants, which excludes virtually everything you are used to in Michigan. Even some mediterraneans that grow back East, such as lavender or acanthus, become summer dormant and winter/spring active here in their native climate.

Water is a big, big issue and it's only going to get bigger, so it's best to start from the beginning thinking "low or no water". The East Bay Municipal Utility District (which serves some of the areas you mention) has a great book you should buy: Plants and Landscapes for Summer-Dry Climates (http://www.ebmud.com/conserving_&_recycling/plant_book/default.htm) that can get you started on appropriate plants. And there's hundreds of native California plants that will allow you to use no summer water at all.

Energy is a big issue here. California is 49% dependent on natural gas for electricity generation, and as you may have read, natural gas production in North America has peaked, so prices are going to keep going up. That means electricity and natural gas for heating are going to get much more expensive. The state, however, is proactive, and you can get rebates on many energy-efficient appliances and lighting products (the ones that are Energy Star rated).

And of course, don't forget succulents. They are generally cute little houseplants back East but they are great outdoor garden plants here. And about as drought-tolerant as you will find.

Happy moving!

David

jkom51, I guess I never had to stand at MOntgomery and Pine, having grown up in Walnut Creek, where standing outside at 4 PM meant you better lick your ice cream cone FAST before it melts... Just another one of the oddities of the Bay Area I guess. But for someone moving to the Pinole area, I don't think they need to worry about that SF wind chill...

I dunno why people always think SoCal is stealing "our" water -- I mean, it's water from the mountains, which happen to be in the northern two thirds of the state, but isn't it everyone's water? It's not like it's our "local" water either. Except in the 1980s, when we had major water rationing in the COntra Costa Water District during the drought, and all OUR pools had to go dry, while SoCal water districts did not pitch in to help us out. That ticked me off... :-P

While complaining about us in Southern Californians, recall that the aqueduct probably would not have been built had it relied on private capital (and if it had, those farther from the source would have suffered during the drought).

Ryan

The East Bay is a great place to live. No one has mentioned the great dog parks (if you have a dog), Pt Isabel, Albany Bulb (illegal now, but you can sneak in early in the am), Berkeley Marina and one in Alameda. If you like to bike there is a wonderful trail along the Bay or get some real exercise climbing hills, if you like to run, walk out the door, even in pouring rain.
There are wonderful nurseries, architectural walks, Cal Performances and Berkeley Rep and other small theaters. For great movies there are the Landmark Theaters. And heck we haven't even talked about SF. You can BART, Bus or Ferry to SF.
Leaving behind freezing weather, snow, waiting until late May or June to see a flower won't be that hard. There is color and beauty all year here.
You're gonna love it. (But if you like hostas, better get Sluggo).
Carol

Okay, I gotta put in my 2 cents about the water....ALL y'all are taking the water out of the Sierras :) or from NorCal mountains!! I mean, for everyone in CA, unless you live in the tiptops of the Sierra, surface water is likely being imported to your region. Read the latest California Water Plan Update....it's not just cities that need the water, it is the farmers and the environment as well. And that dreaded "Peripheral Canal", now ahem, called the "Isolated Facility", by the way, could help with the Delta ecosystem crashing, because it would reduce the export pumping in the Delta and basically go around it (not less water would go south, just not through the Delta). There's no way that SoCal would be allowed to take more than its current share...that water is all allotted through complex agreements. They don't get to just turn on the faucet and take what they want! Water politics are controversial, but the process is trying to be "more transparent". Surprisingly, SoCal (MWD or aka Met) uses less water now than it did 10 or 20 years ago because of conservation, although population has greatly increased. I visited the in-laws in Palm Desert last weekend, and was greatly impressed with the "desert" landscaping of the homes in Sun City. It was pretty and colorful, not all cacti, and very little water-guzzling lawn areas.

hostarasta, you'll find CA water politics to be a sensitive topic...but if we all conserve, there will be enough for our gardens :)!!!!! Lots of great posts above about our climate...

Welcome to CA! My hubby is also from the Detroit suburbs (Oak Park) and has been here since 1982.

I'm glad I'm welcome in California; however, it will only happen if my hubby gets the job. We'll be there this weekend for a good job interview. It's looking very promising, but nothing's set in stone. All your help and information can only help us get there - spiritually! So thanks for your thoughts.

California here we come?????????? I'm going to let you know how the interview goes. Even if no one reads it.

Thanks again........... see you this weekend. hahahahahaha

You can say hello to palm trees and other tropical plants!

Whew! Just reading all the posts about water. You all get really worked up about it! I guess here in Virginia, we never really worry, since I swear it rains more in creation here than anywhere else in the world!!!!

Okay...I may exaggerate. All I'm saying is, come here in spring, and it rains A LOT. The spring of 2000 we had all rain the entire month of May and part of June. Seattle ain't got nothin' on us.

During the 70's, when I lived in Trinity County, we had some severe droughts... Trinity Lake dropped 200 ft. All the fish were concentrated... I had nightmares from once I was swimming and kicked a fish which wrapped around my leg... never got out of the water so fast! :o) This was the time when they were talking "peripheral canal" and us northerners were fearful that LA wanted to take the rest of our water. But that was a long time ago... Down here in Sacramento, we get a decent rainfall around 17" a year or so. I've heard other places get almost this amount in a couple of days! :o)

Dear butterfly15_ca:

Hi! I just posted a message about my upcoming move. I love the Novato area so far.... it's suburban, yet right off the freeway. 5 minutes to Macy's! I am very excited.... probably won't be moving until June, however.

Marlene in Michigan