Montura, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 10a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
A short list that earns its place here — okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Montura, 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 Montura 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 Montura — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Montura — the short answer
Montura, Florida: USDA zone 10a, about 329 days between hard freezes, across 14K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 10a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 25
- Hendry County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 20
- Hendry County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~329
- Hendry County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 14K 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 Hendry County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 10a is Montura's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Montura's 329-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Montura
Each reading below is measured for Montura itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMontura runs about 329 days between hard freezes (read from Hendry County, the closest normal to Montura) — 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
MeasuredMontura 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 Montura is in
Montura sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Montura's own centroid rather than borrowed from Hendry County.
What Grows in Montura
Every plant below cleared Montura's own zone 10a and its 329-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Montura?
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 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jan 25 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 20 — 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 Montura
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Montura. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CENTRAL COUNTY WATER CONTROL DISTRICTBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- CENTRAL CNTY WATER CONT DIV MONTURA RANCH ESTATESUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- LUC-18 WELL NR CLEWISTON, FLNitrate · 2.1 mi
- HE - 5Nitrate · 2.2 mi
- MARY LOUS COUNTRY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- AZTECA MONTURA INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
- LUC-19 WELL NR CLEWISTON, FLNitrate · 3.0 mi
- LUC-12 WELL NR CLEWISTON, FLNitrate · 3.8 mi
- CLEWISTON AUTOMOTIVE REPAIRBrownfields · 4.3 mi
- HE - 20Nitrate · 4.5 mi
- LUC-13R WELL NR CLEWISTON, FL replaces LUC-13Nitrate · 6.8 mi
- HE - 4Nitrate · 6.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Montura'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 Montura.
Total Sites
44
within ~10 miles of Montura
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Montura
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Montura
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Montura, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Montura — Nitrate (24 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (3 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Montura
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 Montura average
Your land is one point inside Montura
Everything above resolves to Montura as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 14K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Hendry 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 Montura Average
Montura Average
- ●USDA Zones 10a, averaged across Montura
- ●One soil character for all of Montura
- ●Frost dates read at Montura's scale: Jan 25 to Dec 20
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Montura's 10a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Montura
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Montura, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Montura averages can't show:
We read public map data around Montura — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Montura average
How we know this about Montura
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 Hendry 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 Montura
When does frost risk typically end in Montura?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Montura typically lands around Jan 25, 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 15.
When is the first frost in Montura?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Montura typically arrives around Dec 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 6, so the watching starts about Nov 20 — about 329 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Montura?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Montura sees about 329 frost-free days — roughly Jan 25 through Dec 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 15 to Dec 6, about 294 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Montura?
The federal record around Montura is light — 44 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (24), the nearest Brownfields record about 1.2 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Montura?
From about Nov 20 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 20 (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 20. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Montura's scale — its 10a band and its 329-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Montura'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 Montura’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Montura's own scale — the 14,296 acres it covers and 44 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Montura's own USDA hardiness band, zones 10aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 44 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Montura, the closest Brownfields record about 1.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Montura's boundary and the 14,296 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 10a and a ~329-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Montura's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Montura has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Hendry County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Montura's 14,296 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hendry County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hendry 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 Hendry County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Montura's 14,296 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Montura you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 14,296 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 1.2 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 Montura-wide figureread your own land →