Hudson, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 10a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Growers here do well with mango, tomato, orange, and sweet potato — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Hudson, 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 Hudson 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 Hudson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Hudson — the short answer
Hudson, Florida: USDA zone 10a, about 325 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 10a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 27
- Pasco County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 18
- Pasco County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~325
- Pasco 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 Pasco County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 10a is Hudson's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hudson's 325-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hudson
Each reading below is measured for Hudson itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsHudson runs about 325 days between hard freezes (read from Pasco County, the closest normal to Hudson) — 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
MeasuredHudson 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 Hudson is in
Hudson sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Hudson's own centroid rather than borrowed from Pasco County.
What Grows in Hudson
Plants matched to Hudson's USDA zones 10a, ordered by how much hardiness margin each has here — the ones with room to spare at both ends of this town's band lead. Each links to its full growing profile.
Is it too late to plant in Hudson?
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 27 (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. 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 Hudson
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hudson. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FLORIDA CANCER SPECIALISTS & RESEARCH INSTITUTE LLCBrownfields · 650 ft
- HCA FLORIDA BAYONET POINT HOSPITALBrownfields · 1000 ft
- WINDSOR WOODS CONVALESCENT CTRUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- WINN DIXIE #710Brownfields · 1600 ft
- ATRIA WINDSOR WOODSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- CITGO-HUDSONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- TEXACO #24-203-1355Underground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- PASCO PAINT & BODY SHOP INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- PASCO PAINT & BODY SHOPBrownfields · 2300 ft
- EXXON R/S #4-0354Underground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- SUNOCO SERVICE STATION #08165698Brownfields · 2400 ft
- TOP WRENCH AUTO SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hudson'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 Hudson.
Total Sites
531
within ~10 miles of Hudson
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hudson
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hudson
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.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Hudson
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 Hudson average
Your land is one point inside Hudson
Everything above resolves to Hudson as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 4K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Pasco 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 Hudson Average
Hudson Average
- ●USDA Zones 10a, averaged across Hudson
- ●One soil character for all of Hudson
- ●Frost dates read at Hudson's scale: Jan 27 to Dec 18
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hudson's 10a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hudson
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hudson, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hudson averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hudson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hudson average
How we know this about Hudson
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 Pasco 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 Hudson
When does frost risk typically end in Hudson?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hudson typically lands around Jan 27, 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 17.
When is the first frost in Hudson?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hudson 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 325 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hudson?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hudson sees about 325 frost-free days — roughly Jan 27 through Dec 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 17 to Dec 4, about 290 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hudson?
The federal record around Hudson is a meaningful one — 531 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (272), the nearest Brownfields 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 Hudson?
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 Hudson's scale — its 10a band and its 325-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hudson'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 Hudson’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Hudson's own scale — the 4,055 acres it covers and 531 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hudson's own USDA hardiness band, zones 10aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 531 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hudson, the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hudson's boundary and the 4,055 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- The ecoregion at Hudson's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Hudson has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Pasco County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Hudson's 4,055 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Pasco County
- The candidate plant list — Florida's curated set, filtered to this zone band and re-ordered by how much margin each has herefrom Florida
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Pasco 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 Pasco County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hudson's 4,055 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hudson you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,055 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Hudson-wide figureread your own land →
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