Yeah, the East Coast weather stations aren't actually that comparable to weather stations in BC and Ontario. There's no urban weather station in Halifax, for example (note that Victoria's lows vary by 3 degrees from airport to city), and Yarmouth is an airport station as mentioned (no idea how it is situated). The difference between being right by the water and being inland is much more significant than on the West Coast in the absence of large changes in elevation.
Temperature swings and precipitation are also important and aren't captured by averages. Summer temperatures and growing season are also important - some plants like hot summer weather and some don't.
People do successfully overwinter southern magnolias, monkey puzzle trees, and banana plants in Nova Scotia. I have not seen these in Ontario but they may exist. Slightly hardier plants like rhododendrons, holly, and evergreen ivy varieties do very well (rhododendrons and some things bigger there than in BC for whatever reason) and are more ubiquitous than in Ontario.
They do summer plantings of palms in Halifax and around Southern Ontario but I don't think I've seen them overwintered. I've never seen anything comparable to the palm trees in Vancouver, which can be 10-15 feet tall.
Also, there are old photos (from maybe 100 years ago) of palm-like trees growing wild on Sable Island but I am having trouble finding them.
Last edited by someone123; Sep 16, 2010 at 10:08 PM.
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