Hilliard, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
These conditions suit artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Hilliard, 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 Hilliard 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 Hilliard — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Hilliard — the short answer
Hilliard, Florida: USDA zone 9a, about 312 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 3
- Nassau County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 12
- Nassau County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~312
- Nassau County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 4K 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 Nassau County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Hilliard's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hilliard's 312-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hilliard
Each reading below is measured for Hilliard itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsHilliard runs about 312 days between hard freezes (read from Nassau County, the closest normal to Hilliard) — 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
MeasuredHilliard sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
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 Hilliard is in
Hilliard sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Hilliard's own centroid rather than borrowed from Nassau County.
What Grows in Hilliard
Every plant below cleared Hilliard's own zone 9a and its 312-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Hilliard?
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 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 3 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 12 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.
What's on the federal record near Hilliard
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hilliard. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HILLIARD MIDDLE - SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLBrownfields · 1400 ft
- CIRCLE K #02813Underground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- WASHOMATICUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- COASTAL MART #485Underground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- LIL CHAMP FOOD STORE #62Underground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- CIRCLE K #2721262Underground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- LA MOUNTAIN PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- FAST FUEL 8178Underground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- UNION 76-LIBBYSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- ALVIN & PEGGY STRICKLANDUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- FLASH FOODS #142Brownfields · 2200 ft
- DOUIBLE D AUTO CENTER INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hilliard'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 Hilliard.
Total Sites
88
within ~10 miles of Hilliard
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hilliard
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hilliard
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Hilliard, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 64 sites within ~10 miles of Hilliard. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Hilliard
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 Hilliard average
Your land is one point inside Hilliard
Everything above resolves to Hilliard as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 4K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Nassau 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 Hilliard Average
Hilliard Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Hilliard
- ●One soil character for all of Hilliard
- ●Frost dates read at Hilliard's scale: Feb 3 to Dec 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hilliard's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hilliard
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hilliard, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hilliard averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hilliard — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hilliard average
How we know this about Hilliard
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 Nassau 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 Hilliard
When does frost risk typically end in Hilliard?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hilliard typically lands around Feb 3, 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 24.
When is the first frost in Hilliard?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hilliard typically arrives around Dec 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 28, so the watching starts about Nov 12 — about 312 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hilliard?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hilliard sees about 312 frost-free days — roughly Feb 3 through Dec 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 24 to Nov 28, about 277 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hilliard?
The federal record around Hilliard is a meaningful one — 88 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (64), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.3 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.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Hilliard?
From about Nov 12 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 12 (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 12. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Hilliard's scale — its 9a band and its 312-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hilliard'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 Hilliard’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Hilliard's own scale — the 3,524 acres it covers and 88 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hilliard's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 88 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hilliard, the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hilliard's boundary and the 3,524 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~312-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Hilliard's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Hilliard has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Nassau County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Hilliard's 3,524 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Nassau County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Nassau 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 Nassau County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hilliard's 3,524 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hilliard you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,524 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 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 Hilliard-wide figureread your own land →
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