Gifford, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 10a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
The conditions favor okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Gifford, 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 Gifford 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 Gifford — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Gifford — the short answer
Gifford, Florida: USDA zone 10a, about 335 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 10a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 19
- Indian River County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 20
- Indian River County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~335
- Indian River 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 Indian River County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 10a is Gifford's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Gifford's 335-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Gifford
Each reading below is measured for Gifford itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsGifford runs about 335 days between hard freezes (read from Indian River County, the closest normal to Gifford) — 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
MeasuredGifford 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 Gifford is in
Gifford sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Gifford's own centroid rather than borrowed from Indian River County.
What Grows in Gifford
Every plant below cleared Gifford's own zone 10a and its 335-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Gifford?
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 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 20 — 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 Gifford
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Gifford. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- INDIAN RIVER SCRAP METALSBrownfields · 2300 ft
- CITY CAB OF VERO BEACH INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- M & K USED AUTO PARTS AND SALESBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- R J GEARY ESTATEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- INDIAN RIVER CNTY-JAILUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- INDIAN RIVER COUNTY FLEET MANAGEMENTBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- INDIAN RIVER CNTY-FLEET MGMNT FUELINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- UNITED PARCEL SERVICE INC - VERO BEACHBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- INDIAN RIVER CNTY-ROAD & BRIDGE DEPTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- COURTESY AUTO SERVICE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- HILL JONES INCBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- INDIAN RIVER CNTY PUBLIC WORKSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Gifford'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 Gifford.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Gifford
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Gifford
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Gifford, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 274 sites within ~10 miles of Gifford. 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 Gifford
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 Gifford average
Your land is one point inside Gifford
Everything above resolves to Gifford as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Indian River 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 Gifford Average
Gifford Average
- ●USDA Zones 10a, averaged across Gifford
- ●One soil character for all of Gifford
- ●Frost dates read at Gifford's scale: Jan 19 to Dec 20
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Gifford's 10a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Gifford
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Gifford, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Gifford averages can't show:
We read public map data around Gifford — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Gifford average
How we know this about Gifford
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 Indian River 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 Gifford
When does frost risk typically end in Gifford?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Gifford 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 Gifford?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Gifford typically arrives around Dec 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 6, so the watching starts about Nov 20 — about 335 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Gifford?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Gifford sees about 335 frost-free days — roughly Jan 19 through Dec 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 9 to Dec 6, about 300 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Gifford?
The federal record around Gifford is a meaningful one — 434 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (274), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.4 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 Gifford?
From about Nov 20 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 20 (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 20. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Gifford's scale — its 10a band and its 335-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Gifford'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 Gifford’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Gifford's own scale — the 1,740 acres it covers and 434 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Gifford's own USDA hardiness band, zones 10aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 434 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Gifford, the closest Brownfields record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Gifford's boundary and the 1,740 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 10a and a ~335-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Gifford's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Gifford has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Indian River County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Gifford's 1,740 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Indian River County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Indian River 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 Indian River County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Gifford's 1,740 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Gifford you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,740 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.4 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 Gifford-wide figureread your own land →