Palm River-Clair Mel, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 10a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
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 River-Clair Mel, 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 River-Clair Mel 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 River-Clair Mel — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Palm River-Clair Mel — the short answer
Palm River-Clair Mel, Florida: USDA zone 10a, about 338 days between hard freezes, across 7K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 10a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 25
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 29
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~338
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 7K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 10a is Palm River-Clair Mel's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Palm River-Clair Mel's 338-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Palm River-Clair Mel
Each reading below is measured for Palm River-Clair Mel itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredPalm River-Clair Mel runs about 338 days between hard freezes — 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 River-Clair Mel 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 Palm River-Clair Mel is in
Palm River-Clair Mel sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Palm River-Clair Mel's own centroid rather than borrowed from Hillsborough County.
What Grows in Palm River-Clair Mel
Every plant below cleared Palm River-Clair Mel's own zone 10a and its 338-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Palm River-Clair Mel?
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 29 — 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 Palm River-Clair Mel
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Palm River-Clair Mel. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- GET N GOUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- LANDIG TRACTOR CO INCBrownfields · 950 ft
- CAR CHEKUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- CIRCLE K #7146Underground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- PRB AREAWIDE GROUNDWATER STUDYSuperfund · 2400 ft
- 7-ELEVEN FOOD STORE #27433Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- GREYHOUND LINES INC #471504Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- CAUSEWAY TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- SEABOARD SYSTEM RAILROAD INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- 7-ELEVEN FOOD STORE #24223Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- CENTRAL FLORIDA FRAME & AXLEBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- HILLSBOROUGH CNTY-FIRE DEPT #1Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Palm River-Clair Mel'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 River-Clair Mel.
Total Sites
3,516
within ~10 miles of Palm River-Clair Mel
Risk Level
High
Highest-severity
62 Superfund sites
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Palm River-Clair Mel
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Palm River-Clair Mel
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Palm River-Clair Mel, Superfund runs higher than the national average — 62 sites within ~10 miles of Palm River-Clair Mel. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Palm River-Clair Mel
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 River-Clair Mel average
Your land is one point inside Palm River-Clair Mel
Everything above resolves to Palm River-Clair Mel as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 7K 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 Palm River-Clair Mel Average
Palm River-Clair Mel Average
- ●USDA Zones 10a, averaged across Palm River-Clair Mel
- ●One soil character for all of Palm River-Clair Mel
- ●Frost dates read at Palm River-Clair Mel's scale: Jan 25 to Dec 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Palm River-Clair Mel's 10a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Palm River-Clair Mel
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Palm River-Clair Mel, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Palm River-Clair Mel averages can't show:
We read public map data around Palm River-Clair Mel — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Palm River-Clair Mel average
How we know this about Palm River-Clair Mel
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 Palm River-Clair Mel’s own record; 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 Palm River-Clair Mel
When does frost risk typically end in Palm River-Clair Mel?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Palm River-Clair Mel 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 River-Clair Mel?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Palm River-Clair Mel typically arrives around Dec 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 15, so the watching starts about Nov 29 — about 338 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Palm River-Clair Mel?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Palm River-Clair Mel sees about 338 frost-free days — roughly Jan 25 through Dec 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 15 to Dec 15, about 303 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Palm River-Clair Mel?
The federal record around Palm River-Clair Mel runs heavier than most — 3,516 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (1,913), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Palm River-Clair Mel?
From about Nov 29 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 29 (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 29. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Palm River-Clair Mel's scale — its 10a band and its 338-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Palm River-Clair Mel'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 River-Clair Mel’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Palm River-Clair Mel's own scale — its own ~338-day season between 28°F freezes, the 7,311 acres it covers and 3,516 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Palm River-Clair Mel's own USDA hardiness band, zones 10aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Palm River-Clair Mel's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Jan 25 and Dec 29 and the ~338-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 3,516 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Palm River-Clair Mel, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Palm River-Clair Mel's boundary and the 7,311 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 10a and a ~338-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Palm River-Clair Mel's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Palm River-Clair Mel's 7,311 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hillsborough County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hillsborough 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 Hillsborough County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Palm River-Clair Mel's 7,311 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Palm River-Clair Mel you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 7,311 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Palm River-Clair Mel-wide figureread your own land →
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