So true, Tiffany. You only need to look at that map of Australia again (in greene's link) to see that the zone in purple has areas on the east coast, humid and moderated by the proximity of the water, and then the huge swath across the middle of the continent that (I think) is mostly desert. So entirely different growing conditions lumped into the same zone just because the average winter low temperatures are similar. Sheesh.
Really, a practical approach for
@hazell Deb would be to read around the site a bit on the forums that list the plants you grow, or see growing in your area. Then look at the locations of the people growing those, to get a feel for who you should chat with about your garden. If you don't know names of your plants, you can post pictures on various forums or the Plant ID forum to start with.
One thing N.America and Australia have in common is that many of our gardening ancestors (and favorite plants) came from the same places - the UK and Europe.
