Mayo, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
A short list that earns its place here — artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Mayo, 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 Mayo 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 Mayo — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Mayo — the short answer
Mayo, Florida: USDA zone 9a, about 296 days between hard freezes, across 575 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 13
- Lafayette County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 6
- Lafayette County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~296
- Lafayette County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 575 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 Lafayette County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Mayo's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Mayo's 296-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Mayo
Each reading below is measured for Mayo itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMayo runs about 296 days between hard freezes (read from Lafayette County, the closest normal to Mayo) — 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
MeasuredMayo 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 Mayo is in
Mayo sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Mayo's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Lafayette County is mostly Southern Coastal Plain. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Mayo
Every plant below cleared Mayo's own zone 9a and its 296-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Mayo?
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 16; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 13 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 6 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
What's on the federal record near Mayo
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Mayo. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CHEVRON-ANDREWSUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- EDWINAS TIL T TIL FARMUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- PRIVATE RESIDENCEUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- SHIVER'S DAIRY INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- JACKSON KENNETHUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- FOLSOM EDGARUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- PRINE BARBARAUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- MAYO MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- MAYO FERTILIZER INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- MAYO FERTILIZER INCBrownfields · 1300 ft
- JIFFY FOOD STORE #302Underground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- FINA-HAMLINUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Mayo'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 Mayo.
Total Sites
240
within ~10 miles of Mayo
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Mayo
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Mayo
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Mayo, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 178 sites within ~10 miles of Mayo. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Mayo
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 Mayo average
Your land is one point inside Mayo
Everything above resolves to Mayo as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 575 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Lafayette 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 Mayo Average
Mayo Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Mayo
- ●One soil character for all of Mayo
- ●Frost dates read at Mayo's scale: Feb 13 to Dec 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Mayo's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Mayo
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Mayo, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Mayo averages can't show:
We read public map data around Mayo — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Mayo average
How we know this about Mayo
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 Lafayette 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 Mayo
When does frost risk typically end in Mayo?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Mayo typically lands around Feb 13, 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 Mar 6.
When is the first frost in Mayo?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Mayo typically arrives around Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 22, so the watching starts about Nov 6 — about 296 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Mayo?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Mayo sees about 296 frost-free days — roughly Feb 13 through Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 6 to Nov 22, about 261 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Mayo?
The federal record around Mayo is a meaningful one — 240 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (178), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Mayo?
From about Nov 6 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 6 (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 6. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Mayo's scale — its 9a band and its 296-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Mayo'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 Mayo’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Mayo's own scale — the 575 acres it covers and 240 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Mayo's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 240 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Mayo, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Mayo's boundary and the 575 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~296-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Mayo sits in the Southeastern Plains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Mayo has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Lafayette County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Mayo's 575 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lafayette County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lafayette 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 Lafayette County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Mayo's 575 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Mayo you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 575 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Mayo-wide figureread your own land →
More in Florida
Wider growing context
What grows across FloridaMayo sits outside our named growing regions, so Florida as a whole is its closest context here.