Palatka, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Crops well matched to these conditions include okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Palatka, 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 Palatka 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 Palatka — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Palatka — the short answer
Palatka, Florida: USDA zone 9b, about 320 days between hard freezes, across 6K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 1
- Putnam County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 18
- Putnam County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~320
- Putnam County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 6K 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 Putnam County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Palatka's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Palatka's 320-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Palatka
Each reading below is measured for Palatka itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsPalatka runs about 320 days between hard freezes (read from Putnam County, the closest normal to Palatka) — 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
MeasuredPalatka sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b.
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 Palatka is in
Palatka sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Palatka's own centroid rather than borrowed from Putnam County.
What Grows in Palatka
Every plant below cleared Palatka's own zone 9b and its 320-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Palatka?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 1 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 18 — 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 Palatka
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Palatka. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- O'REILLY AUTO PARTS #2429Brownfields · 650 ft
- WALGREENS # 4734Brownfields · 1000 ft
- LIL CHAMP JIFFY #537Brownfields · 1000 ft
- CVS #004422Brownfields · 1200 ft
- B M TIRE & AUTO SERVICE CENTERBrownfields · 1200 ft
- CIRCLE K #2726015Underground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- CIRCLE K #2726537Underground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- BP-PALATKAUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- TEXACO-RONNIESUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- THE BRAKE SHOPBrownfields · 1300 ft
- ROBERTO AZPIAZOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- RACETRAC #2486Underground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Palatka'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 Palatka.
Total Sites
277
within ~10 miles of Palatka
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
4 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Palatka
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Palatka
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Palatka, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Palatka — Superfund (4 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (178 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Palatka
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 Palatka average
Your land is one point inside Palatka
Everything above resolves to Palatka as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 6K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Putnam 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 Palatka Average
Palatka Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Palatka
- ●One soil character for all of Palatka
- ●Frost dates read at Palatka's scale: Feb 1 to Dec 18
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Palatka's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Palatka
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Palatka, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Palatka averages can't show:
We read public map data around Palatka — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Palatka average
How we know this about Palatka
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 Putnam 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 Palatka
When does frost risk typically end in Palatka?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Palatka typically lands around Feb 1, 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 22.
When is the first frost in Palatka?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Palatka typically arrives around Dec 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 4, so the watching starts about Nov 18 — about 320 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Palatka?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Palatka sees about 320 frost-free days — roughly Feb 1 through Dec 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 22 to Dec 4, about 285 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Palatka?
The federal record around Palatka is a meaningful one — 277 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (178), the nearest Brownfields 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 Palatka?
From about Nov 18 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 18 (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 18. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Palatka's scale — its 9b band and its 320-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Palatka'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 Palatka’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Palatka's own scale — the 6,306 acres it covers and 277 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Palatka's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 277 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Palatka, the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Palatka's boundary and the 6,306 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~320-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Palatka's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Palatka has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Putnam County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Palatka's 6,306 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Putnam County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Putnam 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 Putnam County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Palatka's 6,306 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Palatka you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 6,306 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Palatka-wide figureread your own land →
More in Florida
Wider growing context
What grows across FloridaPalatka sits outside our named growing regions, so Florida as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides