Expert: Jim Hyland - 2/27/2005

Question
Hi

You may or may not be able to help me with this one. I live in burlington, ontario which is considered zone 5b (close to the niagara wine growing region). western red cedars are native to british columbia. I would like to know if they can be grown in ontario.
thanx
carolyn

Answer
The Native Range is a little West of you. Individual trees can be grown most anywhere unless the temperature is not right. Where sufficient precipitation is present, low temperature appears to limit the species' range. Length of the frost-free period abruptly decreases just above the tree's upper elevation limits on Vancouver Island. The northern limits of western redcedar lie between the 11.1° and 11.7° C (52° and 53° F) mean summer temperature isotherms in southeastern Alaska. Absolute minimum temperatures experienced by western redcedar in British Columbia are -10° to -30° C (14° to -22° F) in coastal populations, -14° to -47° C (7° to -53° F) in the interior (28). Western redcedar has a growing season of at least 120 frost-free days along the coast but as few as 75 frost-free days in some portions of its interior range. It is not resistant to frost and is sometimes damaged by freezing temperatures in late spring or early autumn.