Geneva, 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.
Well-matched crops include okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Geneva, 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 Geneva 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 Geneva — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Geneva — the short answer
Geneva, Florida: USDA zone 10a, about 333 days between hard freezes, across 8K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 10a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 19
- Seminole County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 18
- Seminole County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~333
- Seminole County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 8K 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 Seminole County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 10a is Geneva's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Geneva's 333-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Geneva
Each reading below is measured for Geneva itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsGeneva runs about 333 days between hard freezes (read from Seminole County, the closest normal to Geneva) — 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
MeasuredGeneva 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 Geneva is in
Geneva sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Geneva's own centroid rather than borrowed from Seminole County.
What Grows in Geneva
Every plant below cleared Geneva's own zone 10a and its 333-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Geneva?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. 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 18 — 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 Geneva
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Geneva. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SOUTHERN BELL 33319Underground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- AT&TUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- GENEVA GENERAL STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- MJM FOOD STORE #4Underground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- CIRCLE K #2722655Underground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- HANDY WAY FOOD STORE #1655 OLDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- GENEVA GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- FPL GENEVA SUBSTATIONBrownfields · 1.5 mi
- BANKS PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- JOHNNY SOUTHERLANDUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- SOUTHERN OIL RECOVERY INCBrownfields · 3.0 mi
- SEMINOLE CNTY-FUEL & MAINTUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Geneva'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 Geneva.
Total Sites
240
within ~10 miles of Geneva
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Geneva
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Geneva
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Geneva, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Geneva — PFAS (5 sites) and Superfund (3 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.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Geneva
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 Geneva average
Your land is one point inside Geneva
Everything above resolves to Geneva as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 8K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Seminole 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 Geneva Average
Geneva Average
- ●USDA Zones 10a, averaged across Geneva
- ●One soil character for all of Geneva
- ●Frost dates read at Geneva's scale: Jan 19 to Dec 18
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Geneva's 10a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Geneva
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Geneva, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Geneva averages can't show:
We read public map data around Geneva — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Geneva average
How we know this about Geneva
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 Seminole 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 Geneva
When does frost risk typically end in Geneva?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Geneva 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 Geneva?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Geneva typically arrives around Dec 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 4, so the watching starts about Nov 18 — about 333 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Geneva?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Geneva sees about 333 frost-free days — roughly Jan 19 through Dec 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 9 to Dec 4, about 298 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Geneva?
The federal record around Geneva is a meaningful one — 240 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (135), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Geneva?
From about Nov 18 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 18 (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 18. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Geneva's scale — its 10a band and its 333-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Geneva'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 Geneva’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Geneva's own scale — the 8,148 acres it covers and 240 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Geneva's own USDA hardiness band, zones 10aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 240 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Geneva, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Geneva's boundary and the 8,148 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 10a and a ~333-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Geneva's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Geneva has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Seminole County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Geneva's 8,148 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Seminole County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Seminole 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 Seminole County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Geneva's 8,148 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Geneva you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 8,148 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Geneva-wide figureread your own land →
More in Florida
Wider growing context
What grows across FloridaGeneva sits outside our named growing regions, so Florida as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides