Canadian Garden Zones vs. US Garden Zones

🍋 Lemon Camp: September 17 and 24Grow a healthy, productive lemon tree in a pot. In these two live online sessions, Steven Biggs covers watering, feeding, pruning, repotting, pests, flowers and fruit—and how to get a lemon tree through the winter.Recordings are included, so you can watch afterwards if you can’t attend live.Learn more and register for Lemon Camp- - - We are joined by Helen Battersby, a Toronto garden blogger, garden coach, and publisher of the Toronto & Golden Horseshoe Gardener’s Journal. Battersby talks about the difference between the Canadian and American garden zone systems—both of which provide gardeners with a zone number to use when selecting hardy plant material. The lower the number, the colder the garden zone. She points out that while her garden is a zone 6 using the Canadian system, it’s a zone 5 using the American system. The Canadian system uses a number of variables including lowest mean temperature of the coldest month, highest mean temperature of the hottest month, precipitation, and the number of frost-free days. The American (U.S. Department of Agriculture, or USDA) zones are based solely on average annual minimum temperatures. She likens the Canadian system to a Betamax; and the US systmem to the VHS.