Goldenrod, 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.
Crops well matched to these conditions include okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Goldenrod, 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 Goldenrod 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 Goldenrod — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Goldenrod — the short answer
Goldenrod, Florida: USDA zone 10a, about 333 days between hard freezes, across 2K 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
- 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 Seminole County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 10a is Goldenrod's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Goldenrod's 333-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Goldenrod
Each reading below is measured for Goldenrod itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsGoldenrod runs about 333 days between hard freezes (read from Seminole County, the closest normal to Goldenrod) — 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
MeasuredGoldenrod 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 Goldenrod is in
Goldenrod sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Goldenrod's own centroid rather than borrowed from Seminole County.
What Grows in Goldenrod
Every plant below cleared Goldenrod'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 Goldenrod?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. 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 Goldenrod
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Goldenrod. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ORANGE CNTY FIRE DEPT #63Underground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- O'REILLYS AUTO PARTS #4472Brownfields · 1300 ft
- WALGREEN COBrownfields · 1300 ft
- VIDEO MOVIE PLACEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- CITGO ALOMAUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- GREEN & BARGANIER PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- MOBIL #02-JJKUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- WINTER PARK BUSINESS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- GOLDENROD CENTRAL OFFICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- CASSELBERRY CITY - EASTBROOK STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- WESTERN WATERPROOFING CO OF AMERICABrownfields · 2400 ft
- 7-ELEVEN FOOD STORE #29283Underground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Goldenrod'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 Goldenrod.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Goldenrod
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Goldenrod
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •TRI facilities report what they release. Check the wind — downwind beds catch more of it.
Check your specific parcel in Goldenrod
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 Goldenrod average
Your land is one point inside Goldenrod
Everything above resolves to Goldenrod as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K 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 Goldenrod Average
Goldenrod Average
- ●USDA Zones 10a, averaged across Goldenrod
- ●One soil character for all of Goldenrod
- ●Frost dates read at Goldenrod's scale: Jan 19 to Dec 18
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Goldenrod's 10a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Goldenrod
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Goldenrod, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Goldenrod averages can't show:
We read public map data around Goldenrod — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Goldenrod average
How we know this about Goldenrod
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 Goldenrod
When does frost risk typically end in Goldenrod?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Goldenrod 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 Goldenrod?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Goldenrod 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 Goldenrod?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Goldenrod 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 Goldenrod?
The federal record around Goldenrod runs heavier than most — 2,732 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (1,608), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Goldenrod?
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 Goldenrod's scale — its 10a band and its 333-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Goldenrod'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 Goldenrod’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Goldenrod's own scale — the 1,615 acres it covers and 2,732 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Goldenrod's own USDA hardiness band, zones 10aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 2,732 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Goldenrod, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Goldenrod's boundary and the 1,615 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 Goldenrod's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Goldenrod 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 Goldenrod's 1,615 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 Goldenrod's 1,615 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Goldenrod you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,615 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 Goldenrod-wide figureread your own land →
More in Florida
Wider growing context
What grows across FloridaGoldenrod sits outside our named growing regions, so Florida as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides