Bradley Junction, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 10a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
These conditions suit okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Bradley Junction, 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 Bradley Junction 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 Bradley Junction — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Bradley Junction — the short answer
Bradley Junction, Florida: USDA zone 10a, about 332 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 10a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 22
- Polk County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 20
- Polk County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~332
- Polk 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 Polk County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 10a is Bradley Junction's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bradley Junction's 332-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Bradley Junction
Each reading below is measured for Bradley Junction itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBradley Junction runs about 332 days between hard freezes (read from Polk County, the closest normal to Bradley Junction) — 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
MeasuredBradley Junction sits in USDA hardiness zone 10a.
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 Bradley Junction is in
Bradley Junction sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Bradley Junction's own centroid rather than borrowed from Polk County.
What Grows in Bradley Junction
Every plant below cleared Bradley Junction's own zone 10a and its 332-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Bradley Junction?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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 22 (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 Bradley Junction
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Bradley Junction. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SEVEN STAR FOODSUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- TEXACO-SMITHSUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- GRACE, W R & CO RIDGEWOOD MININGSuperfund · 450 ft
- DANIELS ALICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- FRONTIER FL LLC-BRADLEYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- BRADLEY JUNCTION WELL 2 AT BRADLEY JUNCTION,FLNitrate · 1800 ft
- M. ANDERSON AT BRADLEY JUNCTION FL FLNitrate · 1900 ft
- SA WELL SR 37 S OF BRADLEY JUNC FLNitrate · 0.8 mi
- SPARKYS FOOD STORE #106Underground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- FLORIDA GAS TRANSMISSION, LLC - HARDEE POWER M&RBrownfields · 2.1 mi
- FL CONVEYOR EQUIPMENT COUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- SOUTHWEST/POLK COUNTY UTILITYPFAS · 2.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Bradley Junction'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 Bradley Junction.
Total Sites
322
within ~10 miles of Bradley Junction
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
5 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Bradley Junction
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Bradley Junction
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Bradley Junction, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Bradley Junction — Toxics Release Inventory (28 sites) and Nitrate (106 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Bradley Junction
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 Bradley Junction average
Your land is one point inside Bradley Junction
Everything above resolves to Bradley Junction as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Polk 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 Bradley Junction Average
Bradley Junction Average
- ●USDA Zones 10a, averaged across Bradley Junction
- ●One soil character for all of Bradley Junction
- ●Frost dates read at Bradley Junction's scale: Jan 22 to Dec 20
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bradley Junction's 10a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Bradley Junction
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bradley Junction, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bradley Junction averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bradley Junction — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bradley Junction average
How we know this about Bradley Junction
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 Polk 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 Bradley Junction
When does frost risk typically end in Bradley Junction?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bradley Junction typically lands around Jan 22, 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 12.
When is the first frost in Bradley Junction?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Bradley Junction 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 332 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Bradley Junction?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bradley Junction sees about 332 frost-free days — roughly Jan 22 through Dec 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 12 to Dec 6, about 297 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Bradley Junction?
The federal record around Bradley Junction is a meaningful one — 322 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (106), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — so a soil test before new food beds is a sensible precaution here, not a reason to hold back from growing. Remember that proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what sits where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Bradley Junction?
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 Bradley Junction's scale — its 10a band and its 332-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bradley Junction'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 Bradley Junction’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Bradley Junction's own scale — the 1,349 acres it covers and 322 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bradley Junction's own USDA hardiness band, zones 10aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 322 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Bradley Junction, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Bradley Junction's boundary and the 1,349 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 10a and a ~332-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Bradley Junction's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Bradley Junction has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Polk County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Bradley Junction's 1,349 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Polk County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Polk 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 Polk County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Bradley Junction's 1,349 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Bradley Junction you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,349 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 Bradley Junction-wide figureread your own land →
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