Thanks for the feedback guys! I hope you and DruidCity make it to Vancouver in the near future (Best 2 months are July and August to come, but June and September are usually nice as well, and sometimes May and October). You can always ask myself or other Vancouver forum members for travel tips
Anyways, I have some detailed hardness zone maps in my house and the eastern half of metro-Vancouver is in zone 8a, while the areas closer to the water are in the slightly milder winter zone of 8b. Most of the Gulf Islands, the Victoria area and parts of the western edge of Vancouver Island are actually in zone 9, which is an amazingly mild zone for Canada.