Palm Coast, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Well-matched crops include okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Palm Coast, 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 Palm Coast 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 Palm Coast — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Palm Coast — the short answer
Palm Coast, Florida: USDA zone 9b, about 327 days between hard freezes, across 62K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 25
- Flagler County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 18
- Flagler County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~327
- Flagler County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 62K 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 Flagler County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Palm Coast's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Palm Coast's 327-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Palm Coast
Each reading below is measured for Palm Coast itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsPalm Coast runs about 327 days between hard freezes (read from Flagler County, the closest normal to Palm Coast) — 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
MeasuredPalm Coast 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 Palm Coast is in
Palm Coast sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Palm Coast's own centroid rather than borrowed from Flagler County.
What Grows in Palm Coast
Every plant below cleared Palm Coast's own zone 9b and its 327-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Palm Coast?
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 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 Palm Coast
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Palm Coast. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- PINE LAKES GOLF COURSEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- CIRCLE K #2721290Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- ASPEN DENTALBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- ALMA INIX LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- CORPORATE PLAZA INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- PUBLIX SUPER MARKET #1339Brownfields · 1.1 mi
- TIRE KINGDOM #6159Brownfields · 1.1 mi
- O'REILLY AUTO PARTS #6392Brownfields · 1.2 mi
- PALM COAST CITY-LIME SOFTENING PLTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- DIVISION OF FORESTRY-BUNNELLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- COASTAL ORAL & COSMETIC SURGERYBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- CIRCLE K #2721230Underground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Palm Coast'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 Palm Coast.
Total Sites
197
within ~10 miles of Palm Coast
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Palm Coast
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Palm Coast
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Palm Coast, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Palm Coast — PFAS (3 sites) and Superfund (3 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Palm Coast
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 Palm Coast average
Your land is one point inside Palm Coast
Everything above resolves to Palm Coast as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 62K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Flagler 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 Palm Coast Average
Palm Coast Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Palm Coast
- ●One soil character for all of Palm Coast
- ●Frost dates read at Palm Coast's scale: Jan 25 to Dec 18
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Palm Coast's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Palm Coast
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Palm Coast, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Palm Coast averages can't show:
We read public map data around Palm Coast — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Palm Coast average
How we know this about Palm Coast
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 Flagler 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 Palm Coast
When does frost risk typically end in Palm Coast?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Palm Coast 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 Palm Coast?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Palm Coast 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 327 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Palm Coast?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Palm Coast sees about 327 frost-free days — roughly Jan 25 through Dec 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 15 to Dec 4, about 292 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Palm Coast?
The federal record around Palm Coast is a meaningful one — 197 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (102), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Palm Coast?
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 Palm Coast's scale — its 9b band and its 327-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Palm Coast'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 Palm Coast’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Palm Coast's own scale — the 61,626 acres it covers and 197 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Palm Coast's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 197 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Palm Coast, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Palm Coast's boundary and the 61,626 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~327-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Palm Coast's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Palm Coast has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Flagler County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Palm Coast's 61,626 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Flagler County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Flagler 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 Flagler County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Palm Coast's 61,626 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Palm Coast you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 61,626 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Palm Coast-wide figureread your own land →
More in Florida
Wider growing context
What grows across FloridaPalm Coast sits outside our named growing regions, so Florida as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides