Wow, Great site, Beginner queries

The site is amazing such in depth help and assitance for new people starting to garden, my situation is slightly different to those who typically are on teh forum.
I am based in cyprus, an island in the mediteranean and it is full of some wonderful flowers and trees (fruits etc) but not alot of readily available information on what works in this climate etc.
I was wondering if anyone could help out - the one thing i see alot on the site is 'zone' 4, 5, 6, 7, etc i was wondering if any of these would be close to that of a hot humid mediteranean climate.
i am building a house presently and have a patch of mud around 30m2 and due to the lack of info dont really know where to begin in terms of grass or flowers trees and vegetables that can withstand the natural climate - i have checked with multiple nurseries and flower shops they dont seem to be to educated - bizarely?

any way i will continue to tread the site and will now start diving through this fantastic looking blog.:D

Do you know the coldest temperature it gets on the island? Like, over the past 20 years, the coldest it has ever been has been what? Has it ever snowed or gotten below freezing?

If I had to guess I'd say you're likely in the equivalent of either zone 9 or zone 10, which is tropical.

When I was in Rome, which is likely to be an equivalent climate, there were a lot of citrus (lemon) trees, stone pines, and I remember seeing a lot of Agave.

This site has a lot of Agave for sale, and may give you ideas.

http://www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Current/

If you wanted trees to plant for eating. I would think citrus trees, figs, almonds, pomengranite, lemon grass, coconut palms. For vegetables, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, peppers of all sorts.

I stay in Turkey on the Mediterranean Sea during the winter. It does not freeze or snow here, either, and during the winter I see a lot of roses, jasmine, bougainvillea (a flowering vine which grows up to 3rd floor balconies) and geraniums. There are also a lot of fruit trees like olive, banana, orange, lemon, tangerine and even apple.

All the tropical flowers which bloom in Southern California and Hawaii should do well there. The main thing is to keep your plants watered well. When it is hot, water early in the morning. And be sure to mulch with natural matter so that the water does not evaporate. Add peat moss to your soil to keep it permanently aerated. Enjoy! :)

Rose White, author
"Easy Gardens A to Z"