Go back from the long trip, and excited to share stuff.

Greg Neal has treated our family for a wonderful cable ride to Grouse Mountain. My wife closed her eyes on the way up there, it was really very high and outstanding view, even with the gloomy skies.

Greg is truly one person who is growing Meyer Lemons in ground in Canada, without a greenhouse!

Anyway, I looked at his wonderful operation and checked out his plants. My Aunt was amazed at what he has done. He has also won first place for the best backyard ice rink, that has palms and lemons around it!

I hope I can find pictures with him to be posted later on. But I am a witness to the caziness of planting citruses in ground where temperature regularly dips to minus 10 deg F and colder, sometimes down to minus 24 deg F. He has grapefruits and satsumas inground too, aside from the known very cold hardy ones.

..........sometimes down to minus 24 deg F.....???????
Millet

Yes, last year, during the arctic blast, they hit about minus 22 deg C, which is about minus 8 deg F. The minus 24 deg F was mentioned by my uncle-in-law working as a Geologist at UBC as the lowest they recorded, but I don't know from which UBC weather station. He could have misremembered it, or perhaps the metric to the darn Farenheit conversion got interchanged. But the Vancouver area have great variations in elevation. Greg for example, brought us to a place 1 mile up after an 8 minute ride in a cable car, and the place is literally in his backyard. The cold denser air can seep down those mountains making it colder longer for those in the foothills like where Greg is.

Vancouver is one of my very favorite cities. A wonderful place. Perhaps we can trade Canada two American cities, Los Angles & Miami, for Vancouver. I have seen a picture of the hockey rink that Greg built. It was the only rink with a palm tree in all of Canada. - Millet

Can't agree with you more!

But I seemed to like Victoria much better. It is the place in Canada best suited for a lot of citruses.

Plus in Victoria's China town, I tasted fresh mangosteens and lanzones, unlike the frozen ones we have in California Asian stores. Although the mangosteen cultivar I tasted is not that good, it is still way better than we get here from the frozen ones. But the lanzones, it is really the genuine article, even my kids feasted on the very sweet lanzones.

The campgrounds are very cheap, with waters always filled to the brim! The whole place is emerald green year round. The humidity is just right for the lungs.

While here in California, around our dams, the water drawdawn in the hundreds of feet before you can see water, are the ugliest you can find in the western states, with the campgrounds in the inland valley bordered by ugly dried ready to flare-up dead brown plants interspersed with burnt out black areas, and we have to fight for camping reservations that costs 500% than what you pay for in Canada!

Idaho have also nice looking reservoirs, with clean restrooms and hot showers that don't gobble up your money, and you tent out in well-kept natural lawns under beautiful trees, and you have your own assigned floating or fishing dock just a few feet away, just for $10-$16 a night! You can't have something like that in the campgrounds of California, even for $200 a night.

Nonetheless, California is home sweet home. And there are many things to list here that makes living here worthwhile. If I lived in Victoria or Vancouver, I would easily take for granted the beauty of such places.

Sure, I would gladly trade more than two US cities for Vancouver. They can have the smoggy LA, Florida, flood-prone New Orleans. I wish to mention others but some guys here would clobber me!

Yes Joe, Victoria is also a nice city. When arriving in Victoria from the sea (hydroplane from Seattle to Victoria, or the fairy from Port Angles, WA to Victoria) the view of the port and The Fairmont Empress Hotel is a sight to see. I'll make Victoria my number 2 city. Actually, I was surprised that you were that well acquainted with Greg. - Millet

We have a relative working at Delta (newer) and Empress hotels and offered us 75% discount. But anyway, even with 75% off is still a lot. We love the plants climbing up the walls of The Empress, very impressive stay there!

Well, Greg have kids and so do we, so easy to find common interests aside from citruses.

Kind words Joe. You have a wonderful family - the kids were angelic while you giving me a tutorial on budding. And thank you for bringing those two plants from Bob Duncan for me... I offered to assist your aunt next year if she were to get the citrus bug.

Vancouver has never seen temperatures of -22 c (on record anyway) Last November we hit -12.5 c for a couple of hours which is 10f the bottom end of a zone 8. (BTW the all time coldest temperature ever in Vancouver is -17 some 40 years ago)

Greg

OK OK OK here is the link to my ice rink winning submission. (I took the photo)

http://www.rinkcontest.ca/finalists/

Here are the finalist from across Canada - some pretty impressive photos.

Greg

How cool is that!!! No pun intended. Love it, those palms look right at home there next to the ice! Thanks for sharing

And some call plant people crazy! I love the palm trees. All the entries were enjoyable, and some were so professional looking!
Nice picture of your family!

Hi

So these citrus really survived below zero?

thanks Frank

Well below zero degrees centigrade that is. Greg mentioned that it got down to 10 deg F but not below zero deg F at their place.