Your plant hardiness zone is an important piece of information to guide your garden decisions. Here in Canada we have a wide range of garden zones with variations in each province. Have a look at the map and find the number for your area for growing plants, trees, shrubs, and vines, including annuals and perennials.
If you want to compare to USDA plant hardiness maps there is more information here.
Canadian Plant Hardiness Zones
Are Canadian and American Garden Zones the Same?
One common question is whether the Canadian and USDA plant hardiness zone systems are comparable, and the answer is, sort of.
While the USDA system is based on minimum temperatures, the most recent Canadian system includes minimum temperatures as well as rainfall, frost-free days, and other variables. When comparing standards and assigned zones, the difference is, perhaps, a half zone or so apart (e.g. 6a versus 6b). So, they’re close.
The purpose of these zones for home gardeners is help guide our plant selections. Zone is often the first consideration—can this perennial survive year-round in my climate?—and other growing conditions like sun, soil, and water come next.
Our zones range from 0 to 9, where zero is the coldest and 9 is the warmest average conditions.
For example, many clematis vines are suitable for zones 4 to 9. This means they will likely not survive winters below zone 4 temperatures or climates zone 10 or higher, but there are always exceptions to be found.
Some of the plants and seeds we purchase here in Canada may also be using the USDA zone system numbers, so keep in mind that it’s not precise, just a guideline.
Garden Zones Change Over Time
We also have to consider that our climate is always shifting, and zones will change over time, and the zone maps are not frequently updated.
Plus, every area has its own micro-climates.
A wide-open garden in zone 5 may be subject to extreme wind and freezes while a zone 5 garden enclosed with walls or other windbreaks may be a warmer micro-climate that never reaches the same lows.
There is no data available to the map makers to account for these exceptions, but you as a gardener will gradually learn how plants fare in your garden.
So, know your zone, but consider your circumstances as well.
How to Find Your Canadian Plant Hardiness Zone
Western Canada
Find your location on the map (you can click to enlarge it) and find the matching colour on the legend.
- British Columbia | Look Up by Municipality
Vancouver: 8 | Victoria: 9
Abbotsford: 8 | Burnaby: 8 | Kamloops: 6 | Kelowna: 7 | Richmond: 8 | Surrey: 8
- Alberta | Look Up by Municipality
Calgary: 3 | Edmonton: 3 | Red Deer: 3 | Lethbridge: 4 | Fort McMurry: 2 | Medicine Hat: 4
- Saskatchewan | Look Up by Municipality
Saskatoon: 3 | Regina: | Prince Albert: 3 | Moose Jaw: 3 | North Battleford: 2
- Manitoba | Look Up by Municipality
Winnipeg: 3 | Brandon: 3 | Steinbach: 2 | Portage la Prairie: 3
Eastern Canada
Find your location on the map (you can click to enlarge it) and find the matching colour on the legend.
- Ontario | Look Up by Municipality
Toronto: 6 | Ottawa-Gatineau: 4 | Hamilton: 6 | Kitchener: 5 | Waterloo: 5 | London: 5 | Oshawa: 5 | Windsor: 7 | Sudbury: 3 | Kenora: 3
- Québec | Look Up by Municipality
Montréal: 5 | Québec: 4 | Ottawa-Gatineau: 4 | Sherbrooke: 4 | Trois-Rivières: 4 | Chicoutimi – Jonquière: 3 - New Brunswick | Look Up by Municipality
Moncton: 5 | Saint John: 4 | Fredericton: 4 | Bathurst: 4
- Nova Scotia | Look Up by Municipality
Halifax: 6 | Sydney: 5 | Truro: 5 | New Glasgow: 5 - Newfoundland and Labrador | Look Up by Municipality
St. John’s: 5 | Corner Brook: 4 | Grand Falls-Windsor: 4 | Gander: 4 | Labrador City: 0 - Prince Edward Island | Look Up by Municipality
Charlottetown: 5 | Summerside: 5 | Cornwall: 5
Northern Canada
- Northwest Territories | Look Up by Municipality
- Nunavut | Look Up by Municipality
- Yukon Territory | Look Up by Municipality
Your local plant nurseries should have zone ranges on their plant tags. Perennials need to be your zone or lower. Annuals can be higher, but not beyond the top number, of course, because we just grow them for one season.
Once you know the plant is right for your zone, then review the other needs including sun or shade, soil type, water, and available space to be sure your garden is a good match.
The maps in this article are here on the Government of Canada website.
~Melissa the Empress of Dirt ♛