Okeechobee, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 10a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Reliable performers under these conditions include okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Okeechobee, 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 Okeechobee 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 Okeechobee — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Okeechobee — the short answer
Okeechobee, Florida: USDA zone 10a, about 336 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 10a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 18
- Okeechobee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 20
- Okeechobee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~336
- Okeechobee 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 Okeechobee County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 10a is Okeechobee's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Okeechobee's 336-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Okeechobee
Each reading below is measured for Okeechobee itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsOkeechobee runs about 336 days between hard freezes (read from Okeechobee County, the closest normal to Okeechobee) — 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
MeasuredOkeechobee 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 Okeechobee is in
Okeechobee sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Okeechobee's own centroid rather than borrowed from Okeechobee County.
What Grows in Okeechobee
Every plant below cleared Okeechobee's own zone 10a and its 336-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Okeechobee?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. 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 18 (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. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What's on the federal record near Okeechobee
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Okeechobee. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- O'REILLY AUTO PARTS #4958Brownfields · 150 ft
- M & M ALTERATIONS-FORMERUnderground Storage Tanks · 250 ft
- EXXON-OKEECHOBEEUnderground Storage Tanks · 250 ft
- PIZZA HEAVEN INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- PARROTT INCBrownfields · 450 ft
- WHERRELL AUTO PARTS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- NORTON'S DRY CLEANERSBrownfields · 550 ft
- SHELL #441Underground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- WALPOLE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- CHEVRON #42152Underground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- CVS PHARMACY #3237Brownfields · 850 ft
- WALGREENS STORE #4075Brownfields · 900 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Okeechobee'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 Okeechobee.
Total Sites
228
within ~10 miles of Okeechobee
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
5 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Okeechobee
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Okeechobee
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Okeechobee, CAFO runs higher than the national average — 4 sites within ~10 miles of Okeechobee. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check your specific parcel in Okeechobee
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 Okeechobee average
Your land is one point inside Okeechobee
Everything above resolves to Okeechobee as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Okeechobee 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 Okeechobee Average
Okeechobee Average
- ●USDA Zones 10a, averaged across Okeechobee
- ●One soil character for all of Okeechobee
- ●Frost dates read at Okeechobee's scale: Jan 18 to Dec 20
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Okeechobee's 10a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Okeechobee
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Okeechobee, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Okeechobee averages can't show:
We read public map data around Okeechobee — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Okeechobee average
How we know this about Okeechobee
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 Okeechobee 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 Okeechobee
When does frost risk typically end in Okeechobee?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Okeechobee typically lands around Jan 18, 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 8.
When is the first frost in Okeechobee?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Okeechobee 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 336 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Okeechobee?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Okeechobee sees about 336 frost-free days — roughly Jan 18 through Dec 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 8 to Dec 6, about 301 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Okeechobee?
The federal record around Okeechobee is a meaningful one — 228 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (139), the nearest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile 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 Okeechobee?
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 Okeechobee's scale — its 10a band and its 336-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Okeechobee'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 Okeechobee’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Okeechobee's own scale — the 2,596 acres it covers and 228 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Okeechobee's own USDA hardiness band, zones 10aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 228 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Okeechobee, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Okeechobee's boundary and the 2,596 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 10a and a ~336-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Okeechobee's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Okeechobee has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Okeechobee County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Okeechobee's 2,596 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Okeechobee County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Okeechobee 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 Okeechobee County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Okeechobee's 2,596 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Okeechobee you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,596 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 Okeechobee-wide figureread your own land →
More in Florida
Wider growing context
What grows across FloridaOkeechobee sits outside our named growing regions, so Florida as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides