How to Find Your Canadian Plant Hardiness Zone

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.

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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 lots of 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

Note: These links go to http://planthardiness.gc.ca/ and (unfortunately) that government website can be slow to load. Be patient!

Western Canada

Find your location on the map and find the matching colour on the legend.

• British Columbia | Look Up by Municipality
  Vancouver: 8 |  Victoria: 9
  Abbotsford: 8b | Burnaby: 8b  | Kamloops: 6a |  Kelowna: 7a  |  Richmond: 8a |   Surrey: 8a
• Alberta | Look Up by Municipality
  Calgary: 4a | Edmonton: 4a | Red Deer: 4a | Lethbridge: 4b | Fort McMurry: 3a | Medicine Hat: 4b
• Saskatchewan | Look Up by Municipality
  Saskatoon: 3b | Regina: 3b | Prince Albert: 3a | Moose Jaw: 4a | North Battleford: 3b
• Manitoba | Look Up by Municipality
  Winnipeg: 4a | Brandon: 3b | Steinbach: 3b | Portage la Prairie: 4a

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Eastern Canada

Find your location on the map and find the matching colour on the legend.

• Ontario | Look Up by Municipality
  Toronto:  7a | Ottawa-Gatineau: 5b | Hamilton: 6b | Kitchener: 5b | Waterloo:  5b | London: 6b | Oshawa: 6a | Windsor: 7 | Sudbury: 4b | Kenora: 4a

• Québec | Look Up by Municipality
  Montréal:  6a | Québec:  5a | Ottawa-Gatineau: 5a | Sherbrooke: 5a  | Trois-Rivières: 5a | Chicoutimi – Jonquière: 3b
• New Brunswick | Look Up by Municipality
  Moncton: 5b  | Saint John: 5b | Fredericton: 5b  | Bathurst:  4b

• Nova Scotia | Look Up by Municipality
  Halifax: 6b | Sydney: 5 | Truro:  5b | New Glasgow: 6a
• Newfoundland and Labrador | Look Up by Municipality
  St. John’s: 6a | Corner Brook: 5a   |  Grand Falls-Windsor: 4b  | Gander: 5a | Labrador City: 1a
• Prince Edward Island | Look Up by Municipality
  Charlottetown: 5b | Summerside: 5b | Cornwall: 5b

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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.

This explains more: Annuals Versus Perennials: What’s The Difference?

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.

And step one is always to be certain whatever you are growing is not invasive in your region. Some invasive plants are available at plant nurseries so don’t assume what’s available is safe.

The maps in this article are on the Government of Canada website (2010 data).

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Learn More About Plant Hardiness Zones

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~Melissa the Empress of Dirt ♛