Buenaventura Lakes, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 10a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Expect mango, tomato, orange, and sweet potato to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Buenaventura Lakes, 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 Buenaventura Lakes 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 Buenaventura Lakes — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Buenaventura Lakes — the short answer
Buenaventura Lakes, Florida: USDA zone 10a, about 323 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 10a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 25
- Osceola County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 14
- Osceola County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~323
- Osceola County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 4K 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 Osceola County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 10a is Buenaventura Lakes's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Buenaventura Lakes's 323-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Buenaventura Lakes
Each reading below is measured for Buenaventura Lakes itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBuenaventura Lakes runs about 323 days between hard freezes (read from Osceola County, the closest normal to Buenaventura Lakes) — 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
MeasuredBuenaventura Lakes 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 Buenaventura Lakes is in
Buenaventura Lakes sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Buenaventura Lakes's own centroid rather than borrowed from Osceola County.
What Grows in Buenaventura Lakes
Plants matched to Buenaventura Lakes's USDA zones 10a, 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 Buenaventura Lakes?
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 25 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 14 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What's on the federal record near Buenaventura Lakes
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Buenaventura Lakes. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- LANDSTAR HOMESUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- TOHO BUENAVENTURA LAKESPFAS · 1800 ft
- ORANGE OSCEOLA UTILITIESUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- O'REILLY AUTO PARTS #4716Brownfields · 0.7 mi
- KISSIMMEE HGTS VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- SHELL-BRONSON #349Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- SUNSHINE FOOD MART #355Underground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- CIRCLE K #2708958Underground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- TIRE KINGDOM #6222Brownfields · 0.9 mi
- PARKWAY MIDDLE SCHOOLBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- BUENAVENTURAL LAKES CENTRAL OFFICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- CIRCLE K #2721205Underground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Buenaventura Lakes'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 Buenaventura Lakes.
Total Sites
1,347
within ~10 miles of Buenaventura Lakes
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
7 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Buenaventura Lakes
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Buenaventura Lakes
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •TRI facilities report what they release. Check the wind — downwind beds catch more of it.
Check your specific parcel in Buenaventura Lakes
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 Buenaventura Lakes average
Your land is one point inside Buenaventura Lakes
Everything above resolves to Buenaventura Lakes as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 4K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Osceola 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 Buenaventura Lakes Average
Buenaventura Lakes Average
- ●USDA Zones 10a, averaged across Buenaventura Lakes
- ●One soil character for all of Buenaventura Lakes
- ●Frost dates read at Buenaventura Lakes's scale: Jan 25 to Dec 14
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Buenaventura Lakes's 10a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Buenaventura Lakes
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Buenaventura Lakes, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Buenaventura Lakes averages can't show:
We read public map data around Buenaventura Lakes — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Buenaventura Lakes average
How we know this about Buenaventura Lakes
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 Osceola 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 Buenaventura Lakes
When does frost risk typically end in Buenaventura Lakes?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Buenaventura Lakes typically lands around Jan 25, 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 15.
When is the first frost in Buenaventura Lakes?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Buenaventura Lakes typically arrives around Dec 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 30, so the watching starts about Nov 14 — about 323 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Buenaventura Lakes?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Buenaventura Lakes sees about 323 frost-free days — roughly Jan 25 through Dec 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 15 to Nov 30, about 288 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Buenaventura Lakes?
The federal record around Buenaventura Lakes is a meaningful one — 1,347 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (682), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles 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 Buenaventura Lakes?
From about Nov 14 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 14 (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 14. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Buenaventura Lakes's scale — its 10a band and its 323-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Buenaventura Lakes'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 Buenaventura Lakes’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Buenaventura Lakes's own scale — the 3,569 acres it covers and 1,347 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Buenaventura Lakes's own USDA hardiness band, zones 10aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 1,347 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Buenaventura Lakes, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Buenaventura Lakes's boundary and the 3,569 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- The ecoregion at Buenaventura Lakes's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Buenaventura Lakes has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Osceola County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Buenaventura Lakes's 3,569 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Osceola 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 Osceola 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 Osceola County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Buenaventura Lakes's 3,569 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Buenaventura Lakes you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,569 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Buenaventura Lakes-wide figureread your own land →
More in Florida
Growing region
Nearby growing guides