Gale, I live in Bakersfield, CA, near the southern tip of the San Joaquin Valley, and it can zip up to 100 as early as April here these days -- a very hot and dry climate, with summers usually over 100. Our average rainfall is something like 5"-6", and right now we're almost 3" under that for this year and we have fairly heavy water restrictions in place. And it almost never freezes here in the winter anymore.
I've had a lot of trouble getting crosses to take, and it seems that every spring I'll make literally hundreds of crosses that don't take -- and then suddenly in one week everything will take, and I simply cannot identify what is different about that week. So just keep trying, the earlier the better in the morning if possible, although not before the outside temp reaches 65. And I've learned my lesson and now keep just about all the plants I want to use as pod parents in pots so I can move them under my shaded back porch when I make crosses -- and I keep them there the next day as well, and it has helped. But there are some that I really want to set pods on that are in the ground, and for those I place big beach umbrellas over them on the day I pollenate and have to keep adjusting them as the sunlight moves. Also, I've had recent fairly good luck with bringing plants I want to use into the house to keep the temp around 80 on hot days during the early summer months.
Hope this helps, and good luck!
