What Grows in Port Salerno, Florida

USDA Zones 10b · 2K acres

Port Salerno, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 10b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.

Among the crops suited to this profile: mango, tomato, orange, and sweet potato. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.

Score your parcel · free

Even in Port Salerno, 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 Port Salerno 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 Port Salerno — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.

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Port Salerno — the short answer

Port Salerno, Florida: USDA zone 10b, about 330 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.

USDA zone
10b
USDA PHZM 2023
Last hard freeze (28°F)
Jan 19
Martin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
First hard freeze (28°F)
Dec 15
Martin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
Days between freezes
~330
Martin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
Town area
2K 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 Martin County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.

Hardiness Zone Range

10b10b
3a (Cold)13b (Hot)

Zone 10b is Port Salerno's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Port Salerno's 330-day season, see what your own ground reads.

Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.

What this means for growing in Port Salerno

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

Season length

From county records

Port Salerno runs about 330 days between hard freezes (read from Martin County, the closest normal to Port Salerno) — 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

Measured

Port Salerno sits in USDA hardiness zone 10b.

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 Port Salerno is in

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

What that means for soil

Is it too late to plant in Port Salerno?

Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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 19 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 15 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.

What's on the federal record near Port Salerno

Closest first, within ~10 miles of Port Salerno. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.

  1. MARLIN CLUB OF FLUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
  2. STUART CORINTHIAN YACHT CLUBUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
  3. A & J BOAT WORKSBrownfields · 1800 ft
  4. RUPP MARINE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
  5. HINCKLEY YACHT SERVICESBrownfields · 1900 ft
  6. MARTECH INCBrownfields · 2100 ft
  7. MANATEE MARINAUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
  8. MACK YACHT SERVICESBrownfields · 2400 ft
  9. C&W FISH COUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
  10. PIRATES COVE RESORT & MARINAUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
  11. ANITA R TILTON TRUSTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
  12. PORT SALERNO MARINEBrownfields · 0.5 mi

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

Measured from Port Salerno'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 Port Salerno.

Total Sites

667

within ~10 miles of Port Salerno

Risk Level

Elevated

Highest-severity

3 Superfund sites

Severity Distribution

within ~10 miles of Port Salerno

High3Moderate156Low508

Highest-Severity Sites

Ft. Pierce Utilities Authority
PFAS Sampling · PFAS Detected
Solitron Microwave
Superfund · Superfund NPL
Stuart, City of - Water Plant
PFAS Sampling · PFAS Detected
2800 Se Dune Dr-Condo Assoc INC
Underground Storage Tanks · Open UST(S)
7 Eleven Store #34772
Underground Storage Tanks · Open UST(S)

Know Before You Grow

  • Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
  • Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
  • On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
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25+ data sources read at your address, not the Port Salerno average

Your land is one point inside Port Salerno

Everything above resolves to Port Salerno as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Martin County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this town’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 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 Port Salerno Average

Port Salerno Average

  • USDA Zones 10b, averaged across Port Salerno
  • One soil character for all of Port Salerno
  • Frost dates read at Port Salerno's scale: Jan 19 to Dec 15

YOUR Parcel

  • Your exact zone, not Port Salerno's 10b
  • Your SSURGO soil type & pH
  • Your sun exposure, cast in 3D

See MY Growing Report

Free Report

Read your specific parcel in Port Salerno

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

Three things about your lot that Port Salerno averages can't show:

Your soil pHYour frost-free days — Port Salerno averages 330Your sun & shade

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

25+ data sources read at your address, not the Port Salerno average

How we know this about Port Salerno

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 Martin 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 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 Port Salerno

When does frost risk typically end in Port Salerno?

The last hard freeze (28°F) in Port Salerno typically lands around Jan 19, 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 9.

When is the first frost in Port Salerno?

The first hard freeze (28°F) in Port Salerno typically arrives around Dec 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 1, so the watching starts about Nov 15 — about 330 days after the spring freeze cleared.

How long is the growing season in Port Salerno?

Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Port Salerno sees about 330 frost-free days — roughly Jan 19 through Dec 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 9 to Dec 1, about 295 days.

Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Port Salerno?

The federal record around Port Salerno is a meaningful one — 667 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (333), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Port Salerno?

From about Nov 15 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 15 (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 15. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.

Everything above is measured at Port Salerno's scale — its 10b band and its 330-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Port Salerno'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 Port Salerno’s own scale

4 of the readings below were taken at Port Salerno's own scale — the 2,282 acres it covers and 667 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.

Measured here

  • Port Salerno's own USDA hardiness band, zones 10bUSDA PHZM 2023
  • 667 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Port Salerno, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
  • Port Salerno's boundary and the 2,282 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
  • The ecoregion at Port Salerno's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions

Inherited from a wider read

  • The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Port Salerno has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Martin County
  • Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Port Salerno's 2,282 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Martin County
  • The candidate plant list — Florida's curated set, filtered to this zone band and re-ordered by how much margin each has herefrom Florida
  • Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Martin 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 Martin County

What this page can’t tell you

  • The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Port Salerno's 2,282 acreswhy one lot differs from the next
  • Which side of Port Salerno you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,282 acresreading your own microclimate
  • How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Port Salerno-wide figureread your own land
The next step finer is your own address