I moved to get away from the cold

by Sparky
(Wpg tor NYC )

I was raised in Winnipeg I decided to leave as soon as I could. At 25 I moved to Toronto. Much better weather in Toronto One can even grow a variety of plants.

At age 40, I moved to NYC. Now I can grow flowers right up until December (winter pansies). In March, I can start to grow primroses or pansies.

I have not had minus 20 since I left Canada. Yeah. It is not as cold in Canada as it was in the 1960's. But it is still old. It is also very expensive to fly away from Canada for a winter escape. However the free medical is nice when it's available.

Barry's Response - Would you like a hospital stay to go along with that icy sidewalk? It's a free bonus.

Thanks for your story, Sparks.

I'm sure you have heard of plant hardiness zones. Each one refers to an area of land on which certain types of plants can grow, depending on its climate. It compares plant hardiness to the minimum annual temperature recorded at each location.

What do the zones depend on? Three broad trends:

• The Latitude - Most of Canada supports a more limited variety of plants than most of the US.
• The elevation of your garden - Mountains are cooler than adjacent lowlands
• Continentality - Places further inland experience wider variations in temperature from season to season than similar places closer to the coast.

I'm sure you can imagine which two affect Winnipeg the most...latitude and the continental climate. Here is a hardiness zone map for the US. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/2012_USDA_Plant_Hardiness_Zone_Map_%28USA%29.jpg

Higher numbers, 10 and above, point towards more tropical locations. New york looks to be about a 7, while Winnipeg and TO, not shown, could be 2 and 6 respectively.

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