Chacala's Garden Zone

Chacala is located at the 22N degree latitude. It' about halfway to the Equator if you live in the mid-U.S.. And it's at about the same latitude as Cuba, Cancun, Puerto Rico, and Hawaii.

The highs in Chacala are usually mid 90's and the lows are in the low 60's. Most of the year the lows are in the high 60's and low 70's. Usually the temp is low 90's in the hottest part of the year and low to mid 80's the rest of the year.The rainy season (almost all the rain in during the evenings or nights) begins in late June and continues through mid October. Peaking in August and September. It's quite humid here mid-June thru early October.

Most gringos seems to find it too hot and humid in Chacala during the summer months. But I don't think it's much different than New Orleans, or South Carolina, or Washington DC in the summer.I think Chacala is in Zone 11 (U.S. zones) or maybe Zone 12. No frost ever. There is no rain from mid October until late June, so the vegetation gets dry in spring. But only about 1/3 of the vegetation is deciduous, so there's always lots of green stuff growing.

Because we are closer to the Equator, the days are never as long as in the summer in the U.S.
the latest the sun goes down is about 7:40pm. And when the sun does down it gets dark within about 12-15 minutes. Spectacular sunsets almost every night, but then it's dark.It's been fun for me to rediscover the plants I knew as a child in Los Angeles: Bouganvillea,
Hibiscus, Lantana, Jasmine, and so on. They all grown and blossom year-round here. More or less.

This is a fruit growing area, mainly Mangos, but also lots of melons and especially Pineapples. Papayas grow year-round here.I wrote this little summary because several people have written, asking about the climate, etc.