South Bradenton, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 10a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 South Bradenton, 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 South Bradenton 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 South Bradenton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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South Bradenton — the short answer
South Bradenton, Florida: USDA zone 10a, about 335 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 10a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 19
- Manatee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 20
- Manatee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~335
- Manatee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town 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 Manatee County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 10a is South Bradenton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against South Bradenton's 335-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in South Bradenton
Each reading below is measured for South Bradenton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsSouth Bradenton runs about 335 days between hard freezes (read from Manatee County, the closest normal to South Bradenton) — 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
MeasuredSouth Bradenton 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 South Bradenton is in
South Bradenton sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at South Bradenton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Manatee County.
What Grows in South Bradenton
Every plant below cleared South Bradenton's own zone 10a and its 335-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in South Bradenton?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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 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 South Bradenton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of South Bradenton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DEVCO #423Underground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- PEP BOYS #398Brownfields · 600 ft
- HOME DEPOT STORE #244Brownfields · 700 ft
- 7-ELEVEN FOOD STORE #34149Underground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- SHELL STATION #13463Underground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- WAWA FLORIDA LLC #5271Brownfields · 900 ft
- WAWA FOOD MARKET# 5271Underground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- CORTEZ FOOD & GASUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- JIFFY LUBE #912Underground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- WALGREENS #04379Brownfields · 1300 ft
- WILKINSON MARINE RICKER YACHTSBrownfields · 1700 ft
- COX CHEVROLET INC-GEOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from South Bradenton'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 South Bradenton.
Total Sites
1,384
within ~10 miles of South Bradenton
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
9 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of South Bradenton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of South Bradenton
Highest-Severity Sites
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.
Check your specific parcel in South Bradenton
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 South Bradenton average
Your land is one point inside South Bradenton
Everything above resolves to South Bradenton as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Manatee 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 South Bradenton Average
South Bradenton Average
- ●USDA Zones 10a, averaged across South Bradenton
- ●One soil character for all of South Bradenton
- ●Frost dates read at South Bradenton's scale: Jan 19 to Dec 20
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not South Bradenton's 10a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in South Bradenton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in South Bradenton, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that South Bradenton averages can't show:
We read public map data around South Bradenton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the South Bradenton average
How we know this about South Bradenton
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 Manatee 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 South Bradenton
When does frost risk typically end in South Bradenton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in South Bradenton 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 South Bradenton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in South Bradenton 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 335 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in South Bradenton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, South Bradenton sees about 335 frost-free days — roughly Jan 19 through Dec 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 9 to Dec 6, about 300 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in South Bradenton?
The federal record around South Bradenton is a meaningful one — 1,384 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (774), 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 South Bradenton?
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 South Bradenton's scale — its 10a band and its 335-day season. Your yard writes its own version of South Bradenton'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 South Bradenton’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at South Bradenton's own scale — the 2,880 acres it covers and 1,384 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- South Bradenton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 10aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 1,384 documented contamination sites on the federal record near South Bradenton, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- South Bradenton's boundary and the 2,880 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 10a and a ~335-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at South Bradenton's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — South Bradenton has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Manatee County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so South Bradenton's 2,880 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Manatee County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Manatee 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 Manatee County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among South Bradenton's 2,880 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of South Bradenton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,880 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 South Bradenton-wide figureread your own land →
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