Gardner, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
On paper, okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Gardner, 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 Gardner 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 Gardner — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Gardner — the short answer
Gardner, Florida: USDA zone 9b, about 331 days between hard freezes, across 5K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 19
- Hardee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 16
- Hardee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~331
- Hardee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 5K 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 Hardee County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Gardner's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Gardner's 331-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Gardner
Each reading below is measured for Gardner itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsGardner runs about 331 days between hard freezes (read from Hardee County, the closest normal to Gardner) — 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
MeasuredGardner sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b.
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 Gardner is in
Gardner sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Gardner's own centroid rather than borrowed from Hardee County.
What Grows in Gardner
Every plant below cleared Gardner's own zone 9b and its 331-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Gardner?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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 19 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 16 — 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.
What's on the federal record near Gardner
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Gardner. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ERWIN & BERNITA FRANZELUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- GRIFFIN WELL NO 723147123221 NEAR ZOLFO SPRINGS FLNitrate · 2.5 mi
- DOUGLAS FARM & RANCHUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- WESTBY CORPUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- FPL - DESOTO PLANTBrownfields · 4.0 mi
- MCINTYRE WELL NEAR ARCADIA FLNitrate · 4.8 mi
- DESOTO 53-47 WELL (W.F. UNDERHILL) NEAR ARCADIA FLNitrate · 5.6 mi
- 37S25E11 716147421 FLNitrate · 6.1 mi
- CIRCLE K #7256Brownfields · 6.3 mi
- DESOTO SO WELL (J. H. BROCK) NEAR ARCADIA FLNitrate · 6.4 mi
- JOHN E CHRISTUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.5 mi
- MARY B GROVESUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Gardner'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 Gardner.
Total Sites
88
within ~10 miles of Gardner
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Gardner
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Gardner
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Gardner, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 40 sites within ~10 miles of Gardner. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Gardner
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 Gardner average
Your land is one point inside Gardner
Everything above resolves to Gardner as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 5K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Hardee 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 Gardner Average
Gardner Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Gardner
- ●One soil character for all of Gardner
- ●Frost dates read at Gardner's scale: Jan 19 to Dec 16
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Gardner's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Gardner
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Gardner, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Gardner averages can't show:
We read public map data around Gardner — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Gardner average
How we know this about Gardner
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 Hardee 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 Gardner
When does frost risk typically end in Gardner?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Gardner typically lands around Jan 19, 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 9.
When is the first frost in Gardner?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Gardner typically arrives around Dec 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 2, so the watching starts about Nov 16 — about 331 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Gardner?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Gardner sees about 331 frost-free days — roughly Jan 19 through Dec 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 9 to Dec 2, about 296 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Gardner?
The federal record around Gardner shows 88 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (40), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.2 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Gardner?
From about Nov 16 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 16 (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 16. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Gardner's scale — its 9b band and its 331-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Gardner'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 Gardner’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Gardner's own scale — the 4,930 acres it covers and 88 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Gardner's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 88 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Gardner, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Gardner's boundary and the 4,930 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~331-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Gardner's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Gardner has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Hardee County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Gardner's 4,930 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hardee County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hardee 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 Hardee County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Gardner's 4,930 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Gardner you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,930 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.2 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 Gardner-wide figureread your own land →
More in Florida
Wider growing context
What grows across FloridaGardner sits outside our named growing regions, so Florida as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides