What Grows in North Fort Myers, Florida

USDA Zones 10a · 32K acres

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

Expect artichoke, meyer lemon, california poppy, and cabbage to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.

Score your parcel · free

Even in North Fort Myers, 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 North Fort Myers 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 North Fort Myers — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.

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North Fort Myers — the short answer

North Fort Myers, Florida: USDA zone 10a, no 28°F killing freeze on record — the season is year-round, across 32K 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
32K 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 North Fort Myers's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against North Fort Myers'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 North Fort Myers

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

Winter hardiness

Measured

North Fort Myers 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 North Fort Myers is in

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

What that means for soil

What Grows in North Fort Myers

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

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

What's on the federal record near North Fort Myers

Closest first, within ~10 miles of North Fort Myers. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.

  1. MIDWESTERN POWERLINE OF FLORIDABrownfields · 0.6 mi
  2. LEE CNTY UTIL-N WATER DISTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
  3. GARRAMONE PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
  4. PIONEER HI-BRED INTL INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
  5. BOSS BOATS INCBrownfields · 1.0 mi
  6. HPBC INCToxics Release Inventory · 1.1 mi
  7. HPBC INCBrownfields · 1.1 mi
  8. GREEN GALLON SOLUTIONS BIOFUEL LLCBrownfields · 1.1 mi
  9. UNIJAXUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
  10. PUBLIX SUPER MARKET #1352Brownfields · 1.1 mi
  11. CIRCLE K #7322Brownfields · 1.1 mi
  12. RAYMOND BUILDING SUPPLYBrownfields · 1.1 mi

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

Measured from North Fort Myers'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 North Fort Myers.

Total Sites

1,278

within ~10 miles of North Fort Myers

Risk Level

Elevated

Highest-severity

1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)

Severity Distribution

within ~10 miles of North Fort Myers

High0Moderate307Low971

Highest-Severity Sites

7 Eleven Store #35537
Underground Storage Tanks · Open UST(S)
7-Eleven Food Store #24542
Underground Storage Tanks · Open UST(S)
7-Eleven Food Store #25668
Underground Storage Tanks · Open UST(S)
7-Eleven Food Store #26567
Underground Storage Tanks · Open UST(S)
7-Eleven Food Store #32209
Underground Storage Tanks · Open UST(S)

Know Before You Grow

  • Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
  • Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
  • On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Free Report

Check your specific parcel in North Fort Myers

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 North Fort Myers average

Your land is one point inside North Fort Myers

Everything above resolves to North Fort Myers as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 32K 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 North Fort Myers Average

North Fort Myers Average

  • USDA Zones 10a, averaged across North Fort Myers
  • One soil character for all of North Fort Myers
  • State-average frost dates

YOUR Parcel

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

See MY Growing Report

Free Report

Read your specific parcel in North Fort Myers

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

Three things about your lot that North Fort Myers averages can't show:

Your soil pHYour frost-free daysYour sun & shade

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

25+ data sources read at your address, not the North Fort Myers average

How we know this about North Fort Myers

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 North Fort Myers

Is it too late to plant in North Fort Myers?

No — North Fort Myers 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 North Fort Myers?

It doesn't — North Fort Myers 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 North Fort Myers?

Year-round — the 1991–2020 station record for North Fort Myers 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 North Fort Myers?

The federal record around North Fort Myers is a meaningful one — 1,278 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (552), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.6 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 North Fort Myers's scale — its 10a band and its no killing freeze on record. Your yard writes its own version of North Fort Myers'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 North Fort Myers’s own scale

6 of the readings below were taken at North Fort Myers's own scale — the 31,583 acres it covers and 1,278 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.

Measured here

  • North Fort Myers's own USDA hardiness band, zones 10aUSDA PHZM 2023
  • No 28°F killing freeze in the 30-year station record covering North Fort Myers — a year-round growing seasonNOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020
  • 1,278 documented contamination sites on the federal record near North Fort Myers, the closest Brownfields record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
  • North Fort Myers's boundary and the 31,583 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
  • Which of 1,086 plants clear North Fort Myers's hardiness zoneGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
  • The ecoregion at North Fort Myers's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions

Inherited from a wider read

  • Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so North Fort Myers's 31,583 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lee County
  • Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lee 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 Lee County

What this page can’t tell you

  • The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among North Fort Myers's 31,583 acreswhy one lot differs from the next
  • Which side of North Fort Myers you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 31,583 acresreading your own microclimate
  • How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.6 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 North Fort Myers-wide figureread your own land
The next step finer is your own address