Subject: [Tweeters] Slipping Into The Bannana Belt
Date: Feb 28 12:38:06 2014
From: Jeff Gibson - gibsondesign at msn.com


I recently have become a de facto citizen of Port Townsend Wa, since my elderly parents need help living at home at the moment, having sorta slipped on the bannana peel of old age.



As a new citizen, I immeadiately aquirred what I consider one of the neccecities of civilization - a library card, so can now post to tweeters again from the public computers, my parents being non-participants of the PC Age.



If the big fat ol' glacier hadn't dumped Whidbey and Marrowstone Islands in the way, I could probabaly see my house (or at least the giant hospital across the street) in the territorial view from my parents house. It's only 28 miles away as the crow flies. Despite the short distance, Port Townsend ain't like Mudville - it's in the Bannana Belt.



Bannana Belt is how local yokels like me often refer to the milder areas in the lee of the Olympic Mnts. and the key word is milder. It's not really warmer, it's just not as cold as locales on the east side of the Sound. So maybe one could grow a hardy bannana, but dont be lookin' for any nanners - dont get warm enough.



Several non-native plants are good indicators of the benign climate of PT. The most spectacular, in my opinion, the charismatic Monterey Cypress made famous by about a million scenic calendar photos. This is a vegetable intolerant of much cold (Everett and Seattle too cold, as far as I know), but its happy in PT - the states largest specimen grows here, and there are a few more massive ones around. While Eucayptus trees can survive in Seattle, the one's here in PT actually thrive.My parents have a Greek Laurel (the one cooks use) in there yard, and it would be about 30 ft tall by now if they had'nt cut it back to deck rail level - another mild climate lover.

Meanwhile, across the