I'm talking about USDA Zone 10b. You can find you own garden zone using the interactive map provided by the government. There's helpful street and satellite map overlays, which I chose not to show below, but it's clear enough once you get to the web site.
Zone 10b has low temperatures in the range 35 to 40 F, so it's supposed to never get below freezing. That seems about right. The zone system is a bit simplistic if it's the only criterion that is applied to guide plant purchases. Apparently this is more a problem in the west than the east, since our secondary growing factor is water.
Sunset Magazine takes this and more into account and says I am in Sunset zone 23.
ZONE 23: Thermal belts of Southern California’s coastal climate
One
of the most favored areas in North America for growing subtropical
plants, Zone 23 has always been Southern California’s best zone for
avocados. Frosts don’t amount to much here, because 85 percent of the
time, Pacific Ocean weather dominates; interior air rules only 15
percent of the time. A notorious portion of this 15 percent consists of
those days when hot, dry Santa Ana winds blow. Zone 23 lacks either the
summer heat or the winter cold necessary to grow pears, most apples, and
most peaches. But it enjoys considerably more heat than Zone 24—enough
to put the sweetness in ‘Valencia’ oranges, for example—but not enough
for ‘Washington’ naval oranges, which are grown farther inland.
Temperatures are mild here, but severe winters descend at times. Average
lows range from 43 to 48°F (6 to 9°C), while extreme lows average from
34 to 27°F (1 to –3°C).
I'd say they pretty much got it dead to rights.
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