What Grows in Kensington Park, Florida

USDA Zones 10a · 619 acres

Kensington Park, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 10a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.

A short list that earns its place here — artichoke, meyer lemon, california poppy, and cabbage — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.

Score your parcel · free

Even in Kensington Park, 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 Kensington Park 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 Kensington Park — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.

No card required · your full report in seconds

Kensington Park — the short answer

Kensington Park, Florida: USDA zone 10a, no 28°F killing freeze on record — the season is year-round, across 619 acres of town.

USDA zone
10a
USDA PHZM 2023
Killing freeze
None on record
NOAA RCC ACIS 1991–2020, this town’s own record
Town area
619 acres
US Census TIGER/Line 2025

Every figure names the dataset it came from. The year-round finding is measured — a 30-year record with no 28°F killing freeze in it — never inferred from missing dates.

Hardiness Zone Range

10a10a
3a (Cold)13b (Hot)

Zone 10a is Kensington Park's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Kensington Park's no killing freeze on record, see what your own ground reads.

Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.

What this means for growing in Kensington Park

Each reading below is measured for Kensington Park itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.

Winter hardiness

Measured

Kensington Park 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 Kensington Park is in

Kensington Park sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Kensington Park's own centroid rather than borrowed from Sarasota County.

What that means for soil

What Grows in Kensington Park

Every plant below cleared Kensington Park's own zone 10a. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.

artichoke, photograph
Growing artichoke in FloridaZones 7–11Kensington Park's 10a — 3 zones of cold margin.
Meyer lemon, photograph
Florida meyer lemon guideZones 9–11Kensington Park's 10a — 1 zone of cold margin.
California poppy, photograph
California poppy in FloridaZones 6–10Kensington Park's 10a — 4 zones of cold margin.
cabbage, photograph
Cabbage: Florida growing notesZones 2–11Kensington Park's 10a — 8 zones of cold margin.
avocado, photograph
Growing avocado in FloridaZones 9–11Kensington Park's 10a — 1 zone of cold margin.
rosemary, photograph
Florida rosemary guideZones 8–10Kensington Park's 10a — 2 zones of cold margin.
collard greens, photograph
Collard greens in FloridaZones 2–11Kensington Park's 10a — 8 zones of cold margin.
banana, photograph
Banana: Florida growing notesZones 9–11Kensington Park's 10a — 1 zone of cold margin.
ashwagandha, photograph
Growing ashwagandha in FloridaZones 8–12Kensington Park's 10a — 2 zones of cold margin.
kale, photograph
Florida kale guideZones 2–11Kensington Park's 10a — 8 zones of cold margin.
citrus, photograph
Citrus in FloridaZones 9–11Kensington Park's 10a — 1 zone of cold margin.
potato, photograph
Potato: Florida growing notesZones 2–11Kensington Park's 10a — 8 zones of cold margin.
garlic, photograph
Growing garlic in FloridaZones 2–10Kensington Park's 10a — 8 zones of cold margin.
cassava, photograph
Florida cassava guideZones 8–12Kensington Park's 10a — 2 zones of cold margin.
eggplant, photograph
Eggplant in FloridaZones 2–12Kensington Park's 10a — 8 zones of cold margin.
iris, photograph
Iris: Florida growing notesZones 3–10Kensington Park's 10a — 7 zones of cold margin.
salvia, photograph
Growing salvia in FloridaZones 2–11Kensington Park's 10a — 8 zones of cold margin.
Apache plume, photograph
Florida apache plume guideZones 5–11Kensington Park's 10a — 5 zones of cold margin.
bougainvillea, photograph
Bougainvillea in FloridaZones 9–11Kensington Park's 10a — 1 zone of cold margin.
lantana, photograph
Lantana: Florida growing notesZones 10–11Kensington Park's 10a is its exact cold limit.
scabiosa, photograph
Growing scabiosa in FloridaZones 4–11Kensington Park's 10a — 6 zones of cold margin.
holly, photograph
Florida holly guideZones 5–11Kensington Park's 10a — 5 zones of cold margin.
jasmine, photograph
Jasmine in FloridaZones 9–11Kensington Park's 10a — 1 zone of cold margin.
mountain laurel, photograph
Mountain laurel: Florida growing notesZones 5–11Kensington Park's 10a — 5 zones of cold margin.
moringa, photograph
Growing moringa in FloridaZones 9–12Kensington Park's 10a — 1 zone of cold margin.
Vuda blue grass, photograph
Florida vuda blue grass guideZones 8–13Kensington Park's 10a — 2 zones of cold margin.
ajuga, photograph
Ajuga in FloridaZones 5–11Kensington Park's 10a — 5 zones of cold margin.
palo verde, photograph
Palo verde: Florida growing notesZones 8–11Kensington Park's 10a — 2 zones of cold margin.
cogon grass, photograph
Growing cogon grass in FloridaZones 8–13Kensington Park's 10a — 2 zones of cold margin.
liriope, photograph
Florida liriope guideZones 5–11Kensington Park's 10a — 5 zones of cold margin.

What's on the federal record near Kensington Park

Closest first, within ~10 miles of Kensington Park. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.

  1. 36S18E16 9 214 FLNitrate · 2300 ft
  2. PAVER CONST WELL NEAR SARASOTA FLNitrate · 0.6 mi
  3. WINN-DIXIE #0654Brownfields · 0.7 mi
  4. FL POWER & LIGHT CO-SARASOTA EMERGUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
  5. MOBIL R/S #12776Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
  6. WALGREENS STORE #2085Brownfields · 0.7 mi
  7. SAMS AUTO REPAIRBrownfields · 0.7 mi
  8. NPR ENTERPRISE ONE LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
  9. NORTHEAST LAUNDROMATBrownfields · 0.7 mi
  10. FPL RINGLING SUBSTATIONBrownfields · 0.7 mi
  11. AMOCO-SAMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
  12. FL POWER & LIGHT CO-RINGLING CTRUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi

6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map

Measured from Kensington Park'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 Kensington Park.

Total Sites

1,653

within ~10 miles of Kensington Park

Risk Level

Elevated

Highest-severity

10 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)

Severity Distribution

within ~10 miles of Kensington Park

High3Moderate442Low1,208

Highest-Severity Sites

Pluris-South Gate Utilities
PFAS Sampling · PFAS Detected
2 Fl
Nitrate Monitoring · Well
2 Fl
Nitrate Monitoring · Well
36s17e01 722233322 Fl
Nitrate Monitoring · Well
36s17e01 722233322 Fl
Nitrate Monitoring · Well

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.
Free Report

Check your specific parcel in Kensington Park

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 Kensington Park average

Your land is one point inside Kensington Park

Everything above resolves to Kensington Park as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 619 acres. 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 Kensington Park Average

Kensington Park Average

  • USDA Zones 10a, averaged across Kensington Park
  • One soil character for all of Kensington Park
  • State-average frost dates

YOUR Parcel

  • Your exact zone, not Kensington Park's 10a
  • Your SSURGO soil type & pH
  • Your sun exposure, cast in 3D

See MY Growing Report

Free Report

Read your specific parcel in Kensington Park

Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Kensington Park, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.

Three things about your lot that Kensington Park averages can't show:

Your soil pHYour frost-free daysYour sun & shade

We read public map data around Kensington Park — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.

25+ data sources read at your address, not the Kensington Park average

How we know this about Kensington Park

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, with the labelled statewide window where none resolves; 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 Kensington Park

Is it too late to plant in Kensington Park?

No — Kensington Park has no 28°F killing freeze in the 30-year station record, so the growing season is year-round and there is no last-frost date to wait for. Planting is paced by rainfall, heat and daylength instead of by frost: start heat-lovers any month, and time cool-season crops (lettuce, brassicas, peas) for the cooler, wetter half of the year or for higher ground. Succession sowing every few weeks works all year, so the limit is what you can keep watered and harvested, not the calendar.

When does frost risk typically end in Kensington Park?

It doesn't — Kensington Park records no 28°F killing freeze at all across the 1991–2020 station record, so there is no spring frost date to plant after. Cold still matters with elevation: the higher you garden, the cooler the nights, and a few tropical crops sulk below about 60°F even where they never freeze.

How long is the growing season in Kensington Park?

Year-round — the 1991–2020 station record for Kensington Park contains no 28°F killing freeze, so there is no season to measure between freezes. What paces planting instead is heat, rainfall and daylength: the hottest, wettest stretch is the hard part for cool-season crops, not winter. Elevation is the one real exception — the higher you garden, the colder the nights get.

Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Kensington Park?

The federal record around Kensington Park is a meaningful one — 1,653 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (827), the nearest Nitrate 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.

Everything above is measured at Kensington Park's scale — its 10a band and its no killing freeze on record. Your yard writes its own version of Kensington Park'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 Kensington Park’s own scale

6 of the readings below were taken at Kensington Park's own scale — the 619 acres it covers and 1,653 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.

Measured here

  • Kensington Park's own USDA hardiness band, zones 10aUSDA PHZM 2023
  • No 28°F killing freeze in the 30-year station record covering Kensington Park — a year-round growing seasonNOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020
  • 1,653 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Kensington Park, the closest Nitrate record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
  • Kensington Park's boundary and the 619 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
  • Which of 1,086 plants clear Kensington Park's hardiness zoneGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
  • The ecoregion at Kensington Park's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions

Inherited from a wider read

  • Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Kensington Park's 619 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Sarasota County
  • Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Sarasota 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 Sarasota County

What this page can’t tell you

  • The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Kensington Park's 619 acreswhy one lot differs from the next
  • Which side of Kensington Park you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 619 acresreading your own microclimate
  • How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate 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 Kensington Park-wide figureread your own land
The next step finer is your own address