Really interesting to read your discussion about Bergen but were on earth
do you get your info from. Trachy, ficus, yucca difficult to grow in Bergen???
To look at some statistics about average temp does not give you a good picture
of what you can grow or not. YES, we have more rain, but do not agree with the
wind and the dark. Due to the mountains it's easy to find a protected spot with
not so much wind and the dark during winter should not really be a problem since
the plants are more or less not growing at that time. The daylight during summer
is longer in Scandinavia so that would also help even if the summer is somewhat
cool. This summer has been really good with many days around +30.
I would say that on western part of Norway we can grow
more or less what you can grow in UK (of course with some exceptions)due to the
golfstream which makes our winters quite mild with an average temp above zero.
But I should admit that the wet can sometimes be a challenge but that would
also be a challenge in UK and especially in Ireland were exotics grow well.
You should perhaps look at some of our previous links containing pictures
from gardens in western part of Norway. That would perhaps give you some
indication of what we grow here.