Monticello, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Reliable performers under these conditions include artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Monticello, 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 Monticello 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 Monticello — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Monticello — the short answer
Monticello, Florida: USDA zone 9a, about 298 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 11
- Jefferson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 6
- Jefferson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~298
- Jefferson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 3K 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 Jefferson County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Monticello's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Monticello's 298-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Monticello
Each reading below is measured for Monticello itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMonticello runs about 298 days between hard freezes (read from Jefferson County, the closest normal to Monticello) — 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
MeasuredMonticello 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 Monticello is in
Monticello sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Monticello's own centroid rather than borrowed from Jefferson County.
What Grows in Monticello
Every plant below cleared Monticello's own zone 9a and its 298-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Monticello?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 14; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 11 (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 Monticello
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Monticello. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- JEFFERSON COUNTY HIGH SCHOOLBrownfields · 500 ft
- MONTICELLO CENTRAL OFFUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- SUNSHINE JR #193Underground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- BP-STEWARTSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- CHEVRON-THORUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- FINA-DOWN TOWN FOOD STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- COUNTRY AUTO BODYBrownfields · 1300 ft
- TIRE PLANTATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- LANEY PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- EXXON-MONTICELLOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- CHEVRON STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- EDENFIELD TRUE VALUE HARDWAREBrownfields · 1500 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Monticello'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 Monticello.
Total Sites
132
within ~10 miles of Monticello
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Monticello
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Monticello
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Monticello, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 102 sites within ~10 miles of Monticello. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
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 Monticello
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 Monticello average
Your land is one point inside Monticello
Everything above resolves to Monticello as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Jefferson County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this city’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 city 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 Monticello Average
Monticello Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Monticello
- ●One soil character for all of Monticello
- ●Frost dates read at Monticello's scale: Feb 11 to Dec 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Monticello's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Monticello
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Monticello, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Monticello averages can't show:
We read public map data around Monticello — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Monticello average
How we know this about Monticello
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Jefferson 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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Monticello
When does frost risk typically end in Monticello?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Monticello typically lands around Feb 11, 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 4.
When is the first frost in Monticello?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Monticello 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 298 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Monticello?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Monticello sees about 298 frost-free days — roughly Feb 11 through Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 4 to Nov 22, about 263 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Monticello?
The federal record around Monticello shows 132 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (102), the nearest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Monticello?
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 Monticello's scale — its 9a band and its 298-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Monticello'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 Monticello’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Monticello's own scale — the 2,568 acres it covers and 132 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Monticello's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 132 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Monticello, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Monticello's boundary and the 2,568 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~298-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Monticello's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Monticello has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Jefferson County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Monticello's 2,568 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Jefferson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Jefferson 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 Jefferson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Monticello's 2,568 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Monticello you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,568 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile 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 Monticello-wide figureread your own land →
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