Baldwin, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Among the crops suited to this profile: tomato, sweet potato, jalapeno, and loquat. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Baldwin, 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 Baldwin 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 Baldwin — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Baldwin — the short answer
Baldwin, Florida: USDA zone 9a, about 324 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 30
- Duval County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 20
- Duval County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~324
- Duval 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 Duval County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Baldwin's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Baldwin's 324-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Baldwin
Each reading below is measured for Baldwin itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBaldwin runs about 324 days between hard freezes (read from Duval County, the closest normal to Baldwin) — 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
MeasuredBaldwin sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
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 Baldwin is in
Baldwin sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Baldwin's own centroid rather than borrowed from Duval County.
What Grows in Baldwin
Plants matched to Baldwin's USDA zones 9a, ordered by how much hardiness margin each has here — the ones with room to spare at both ends of this town's band lead. Each links to its full growing profile.
Is it too late to plant in Baldwin?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 2; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jan 30 (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 Baldwin
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Baldwin. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SOUTHERN WOOD & PIEDMONTUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- KWIK MART BALDWINUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- GROVES PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- ALLEN BROTHERS WELDINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- BELLSOUTH BLDWFLMA 31320Brownfields · 2100 ft
- EASTERN OIL STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- BELLSOUTH TEL INC #31320Underground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- SOUTHERN BELL-FTGRFLMA 31121Underground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC CORP., BALDWINSuperfund · 2400 ft
- SNACK & GAS #11Underground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- SAGE DRY CLEANERSBrownfields · 2600 ft
- TIMBERLAND MACHINERYBrownfields · 0.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Baldwin'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 Baldwin.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Baldwin
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Baldwin
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Baldwin, Superfund runs higher than the national average — 8 sites within ~10 miles of Baldwin. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Baldwin
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 Baldwin average
Your land is one point inside Baldwin
Everything above resolves to Baldwin as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Duval 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 Baldwin Average
Baldwin Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Baldwin
- ●One soil character for all of Baldwin
- ●Frost dates read at Baldwin's scale: Jan 30 to Dec 20
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Baldwin's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Baldwin
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Baldwin, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Baldwin averages can't show:
We read public map data around Baldwin — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Baldwin average
How we know this about Baldwin
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 Duval 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 Baldwin
When does frost risk typically end in Baldwin?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Baldwin typically lands around Jan 30, 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 20.
When is the first frost in Baldwin?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Baldwin 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 324 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Baldwin?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Baldwin sees about 324 frost-free days — roughly Jan 30 through Dec 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 20 to Dec 6, about 289 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Baldwin?
The federal record around Baldwin runs heavier than most — 225 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (112), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Baldwin?
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 Baldwin's scale — its 9a band and its 324-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Baldwin'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 Baldwin’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Baldwin's own scale — the 1,293 acres it covers and 225 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Baldwin's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 225 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Baldwin, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Baldwin's boundary and the 1,293 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- The ecoregion at Baldwin's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Baldwin has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Duval County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Baldwin's 1,293 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Duval County
- The candidate plant list — Florida's curated set, filtered to this zone band and re-ordered by how much margin each has herefrom Florida
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Duval 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 Duval County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Baldwin's 1,293 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Baldwin you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,293 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles 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 Baldwin-wide figureread your own land →