Century, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Crops well matched to these conditions include tomato, sweet potato, jalapeno, and loquat — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Century, 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 Century 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 Century — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Century — the short answer
Century, Florida: USDA zone 8b, about 304 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 5
- Escambia County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 6
- Escambia County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~304
- Escambia County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 Escambia County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Century's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Century's 304-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Century
Each reading below is measured for Century itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsCentury runs about 304 days between hard freezes (read from Escambia County, the closest normal to Century) — 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
MeasuredCentury sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b.
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 Century is in
Century sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Century's own centroid rather than borrowed from Escambia County.
What Grows in Century
Plants matched to Century's USDA zones 8b, 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 Century?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 8; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 5 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 6 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
What's on the federal record near Century
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Century. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CENTURY FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- CHEVRON-DEANSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- CENTURY KWIK STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- J & J OF NORTHWEST FL INC #2Underground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- LEON B.JONES,CENTURYNitrate · 2400 ft
- ESCAMBIA CNTY SHERIFFS DEPT-SUB STAUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- KORNER KWIK STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- CVS PHARMACY #4027Brownfields · 2500 ft
- ESCAMBIA CNTY-FUEL DIST SYSTEMUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- PANHANDLE 66Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- CRAWFORD DOORSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- CENTURY LUMBER AND LAND LLCBrownfields · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Century'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 Century.
Total Sites
143
within ~10 miles of Century
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Century
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Century
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Century, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 95 sites within ~10 miles of Century. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
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 Century
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 Century average
Your land is one point inside Century
Everything above resolves to Century as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Escambia 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 Century Average
Century Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Century
- ●One soil character for all of Century
- ●Frost dates read at Century's scale: Feb 5 to Dec 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Century's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Century
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Century, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Century averages can't show:
We read public map data around Century — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Century average
How we know this about Century
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 Escambia 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 Century
When does frost risk typically end in Century?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Century typically lands around Feb 5, 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 26.
When is the first frost in Century?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Century typically arrives around Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 22, so the watching starts about Nov 6 — about 304 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Century?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Century sees about 304 frost-free days — roughly Feb 5 through Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 26 to Nov 22, about 269 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Century?
The federal record around Century is a meaningful one — 143 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (95), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Century?
From about Nov 6 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 6 (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 6. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Century's scale — its 8b band and its 304-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Century'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 Century’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Century's own scale — the 2,060 acres it covers and 143 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Century's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 143 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Century, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Century's boundary and the 2,060 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- The ecoregion at Century's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Century has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Escambia County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Century's 2,060 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Escambia 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 Escambia 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 Escambia County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Century's 2,060 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Century you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,060 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 Century-wide figureread your own land →