Walton County, in Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Among the crops suited to this profile: artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Walton County lies within the Florida Panhandle — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Walton County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Walton County, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. 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 Walton County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Walton County — the short answer
Walton County, Florida: USDA zone 9a, about 299 days between hard freezes, across 665K acres.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~299
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 665K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Walton County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Walton County's 299-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat and winter chill in Walton County
Across a year, Walton County accumulates about 6,361 growing degree days above 50°F, about 1,024 fewer than the middle Florida county — ahead of 4 of Florida’s 67 counties. Degree days are the heat a crop actually gets to work with — more of them is more room to ripen a long-season crop before the freeze closes the window.
Winter banks about 560 hours below 45°F, 524 more than the Florida middle of 36. Chill is what tells a fruit tree its dormancy is over, and it is set by climate rather than by anything you can build.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Walton County
Across Walton County, the ground is predominantly Ultisols, where Lakeland, Troup, and Fuquay are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a sand surface. Topsoil pH runs about 4.9–5.3, strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group A soils.
Soil order
Ultisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
8%
Hydric soils
21%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Walton County
The USDA soil survey maps 26% of Walton County as well drained — but another 66% drains differently: 23% excessively drained, 13% very poorly drained.
Lakeland is the most extensive named soil at 24% of mapped acres, then Troup (10%) and Fuquay (5%).
Which of them your own lot sits on is a parcel question, not a county one. Check your address for the survey at your boundary.
What this means for growing in Walton County
Each reading below is measured for Walton County itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Drainage
MeasuredThe dominant soils across Walton County are well drained, in hydrologic group A — ground that drains quickly.
The upside is soil you can work early in spring and roots that never drown; the cost is that fast-draining ground dries out fast and leaches nutrients away before plants can use them.
Work in compost and mulch to hold moisture and feed, and water more often in short doses than deep and rarely.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Walton County runs about pH 4.9–5.3, on the acidic side.
Blueberries, potatoes, and rhododendrons thrive in it, but most vegetables start locking out nutrients below about pH 6.0 and grow pale and stunted no matter how much you feed them.
A measured lime application raises pH for the crops that need it — but test first, because the right rate depends on your own soil, not the county average.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Wet ground
MeasuredAbout 21% of Walton County is mapped as hydric — wetland — soil.
If your lot falls in one of those pockets, a standard in-ground bed will fight waterlogging all season, and roots that need air will struggle.
Check how your own ground drains before you dig; raised beds or moisture-loving plantings turn a wet corner from a problem into a niche.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredWalton County runs about 299 days between hard freezes — 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
The kind of country Walton County is in
Walton County spans 2 EPA Level III ecoregions — Southeastern Plains (65%) and Southern Coastal Plain (35%). Which one your land falls in changes what grows wild there and how the ground behaves, and a county-wide answer cannot tell you which.
What Grows in Walton County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Walton County's own USDA zone 9a and its own 299-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile.
Is it too late to plant in Walton County?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 14; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 11 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 7 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
Documented around Walton County
- monarch butterfly4 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Walton County
USGS estimates 9,098 lb of Glyphosate on Walton County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Acetochlor (2,763 lb) and Dicrotophos (2,225 lb).
Farmland across the whole county, not any one lot. Check your address for the site-by-site record.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Walton County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Walton County — 330 documented sites across 5 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 5 Toxics Release Inventory facilities. Active industrial facilities reporting chemical releases to air, water, and land.
There's a meaningful federal record across Walton County — worth a look before you plant food, not a reason to hold back from growing. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. A soil test before new food beds is the sensible precaution here, and the map shows exactly which sites sit where, so you can see what's actually near you.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Walton County
Closest first, across Walton County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WALTON CNTY SCHOOL BD-FREEPORT HSUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
- BLDG 1481 ROCK HILL TOWER EGLIN AFB FLNitrate · 3.4 mi
- FRM NO 2 DP FST AM FRMSNitrate · 3.6 mi
- FIRST AMERICAN FARMS-DIV BUNGE CORPUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- WALTON CNTY BD OF COMMISSIONERS-DIST 2Underground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- CLASSIC COLLISION - FREEPORT 1913Brownfields · 4.3 mi
- R & E AUTOMOTIVEBrownfields · 4.5 mi
- CHRIST THE KING CATHOLIC CHURCHUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.8 mi
- GENERAL DYNAMICS ORDNANCE & TACTICAL SYSTEMSToxics Release Inventory · 4.9 mi
- WALTON CNTY SCHOOL BD-FREEPORT MSUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.2 mi
- FREEPORT TASTEE CREAMUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.2 mi
- PORTLAND GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Walton County'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 Walton County.
Total Sites
330
across Walton County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
5 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
across Walton County
Severity Distribution
across Walton County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Walton County, two things run higher than the national average across Walton County — PFAS (4 sites) and Nitrate (86 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Walton County
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 Walton County average
Your land is one point inside Walton County
Everything above resolves to Walton County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 665K acres. 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 county 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 county average.
Your Lot vs the Walton County Average
Walton County Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Walton County
- ●One soil character for all of Walton County
- ●Frost dates read at Walton County's scale: Feb 11 to Dec 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Walton County's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Walton County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Walton County, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Walton County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Walton County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Walton County average
How we know this about Walton County
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Walton County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Walton County
When does frost risk typically end in Walton County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Walton County typically lands around Feb 11, 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 Mar 4.
How long is the growing season in Walton County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Walton County sees about 299 frost-free days — roughly Feb 11 through Dec 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 4 to Nov 23, about 264 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Walton County?
The federal record around Walton County is a meaningful one — 330 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (182), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 3.3 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.
Everything above is measured at Walton County's scale — its 9a band and its 299-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Walton County's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads Florida's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Walton County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Walton County's own scale — its own ~299-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 330 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Walton County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Walton County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~299-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Walton CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 330 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 3.3 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Walton County's boundary and the 664,560 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~299-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The 2 ecoregions Walton County spans, Southeastern Plains the largestUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Walton County for a tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Walton County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Florida grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Florida
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Walton County — the ~299 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Walton County's 664,560 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 330 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Walton Countyread your own land →