Astor, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
On paper, okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Astor, no two yards are alike.
A low spot, a south-facing slope, or a stand of trees moves the frost date and sun across a single Astor lot. Enter your address and we'll score 1,086 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data around Astor — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Astor — the short answer
Astor, Florida: USDA zone 9b, about 328 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 26
- Lake County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 20
- Lake County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~328
- Lake County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 1K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. No 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid, so the hard-freeze dates are Lake County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Astor's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Astor's 328-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Astor
Each reading below is measured for Astor itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsAstor runs about 328 days between hard freezes (read from Lake County, the closest normal to Astor) — close to year-round growing.
Frost is rarely the limit here; winter plantings are as real as summer ones, and the harder question is which crops shrug off the summer heat.
Grow cool-season crops through the mild winter, and choose heat-tolerant varieties for the summer beds.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredAstor sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b.
The zone sets which perennials, shrubs, and fruit trees live through an average winter here — a plant rated for a colder zone is a safe bet, one rated warmer needs winter protection or gets treated as an annual.
Match perennials and fruit to the zone before you buy, so nothing you plant is a gamble against the cold.
USDA PHZM 2023
The kind of country Astor is in
Astor sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Astor's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lake County.
What Grows in Astor
Every plant below cleared Astor's own zone 9b and its 328-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Astor?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jan 26 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 20 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.
What's on the federal record near Astor
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Astor. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CIRCLE K #2726079Underground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- ASTOR FAMILY MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- MAE B TAVARES-ESTATEUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- HAGAN HOLDING COMPANY DBA HOWCO ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICESBrownfields · 1900 ft
- HOOSIERS IIUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- POWELL'S STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- BLACKWATER INNUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- MIDWAY MARINEBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- HALL'S LODGE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- BLAIRS JUNGLE DEN INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- L-0455 ASTOR 150 CFNitrate · 1.0 mi
- ROY & CRICKETS FOREST RESTAURANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Astor's center, not your beds. Run your own address for what's upwind of you specifically.
Environmental Intelligence
The counts behind that headline — every source type on the record near Astor.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Astor
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Astor, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 41 sites within ~10 miles of Astor. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Astor
Get exact proximity distances to contamination sources for your specific parcel — plus soil, sun, drainage, and 1,086 plant recommendations.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Astor average
Your land is one point inside Astor
Everything above resolves to Astor as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Lake County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid. Your parcel is one point inside that footprint. Slope, tree cover, a low spot that pools cold air, and what is in the soil are all resolved at the address, and none of them are visible at town scale. That is the honest boundary of this page, and the reason the next step is a reading of your own ground rather than a better local average.
Your Lot vs the Astor Average
Astor Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Astor
- ●One soil character for all of Astor
- ●Frost dates read at Astor's scale: Jan 26 to Dec 20
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Astor's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Astor
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Astor, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Astor averages can't show:
We read public map data around Astor — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Astor average
How we know this about Astor
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Lake County’s record, because none resolves here; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Soil is not read at town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-resolution survey in our data, which is why you will find no soil grid here rather than a statewide one wearing a local label. The resolution ledger below names every figure this page inherited.
Common questions about Astor
When does frost risk typically end in Astor?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Astor typically lands around Jan 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — earlier than the light-frost dates most charts quote. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — lighter frosts keep biting past it, which is why tender transplants here wait until about Feb 16.
When is the first frost in Astor?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Astor typically arrives around Dec 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 6, so the watching starts about Nov 20 — about 328 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Astor?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Astor sees about 328 frost-free days — roughly Jan 26 through Dec 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 16 to Dec 6, about 293 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Astor?
The federal record around Astor shows 57 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (41), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Astor?
From about Nov 20 the job here turns from planting to protecting — the last start even a 30-day crop can finish. As the season closes around the first 28°F hard freeze near Dec 20 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals), three moves buy time: row cover or an old sheet over tender plants on still, clear nights; water the soil the afternoon before a freeze, so it holds warmth overnight; and harvest tomatoes, peppers and basil before Dec 20. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Astor's scale — its 9b band and its 328-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Astor's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
What this page reads at Astor’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Astor's own scale — the 1,495 acres it covers and 57 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Astor's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 57 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Astor, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Astor's boundary and the 1,495 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~328-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Astor's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Astor has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Lake County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Astor's 1,495 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lake County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lake County
- The growing challenges every Florida grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Florida
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Lake County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Astor's 1,495 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Astor you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,495 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out, measured from the town centrehow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — measured at your address, and averaged away by any Astor-wide figureread your own land →
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