Stuart, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 10b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
These conditions suit mango, tomato, orange, and sweet potato — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Stuart, 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 Stuart 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 Stuart — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Stuart — the short answer
Stuart, Florida: USDA zone 10b, about 330 days between hard freezes, across 5K acres of city.
- 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
- City area
- 5K 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
Zone 10b is Stuart's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Stuart's 330-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Stuart
Each reading below is measured for Stuart itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsStuart runs about 330 days between hard freezes (read from Martin County, the closest normal to Stuart) — 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
MeasuredStuart 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 Stuart is in
Stuart sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Stuart's own centroid rather than borrowed from Martin County.
What Grows in Stuart
Plants matched to Stuart's USDA zones 10b, ordered by how much hardiness margin each has here — the ones with room to spare at both ends of this town's band lead. Each links to its full growing profile.
Is it too late to plant in Stuart?
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 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 Stuart
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Stuart. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- STUART CITY-GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- MARTIN CNTY-OLD FIRE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- CITY OF STUART FLEET MAINTENANCE FACILITYBrownfields · 950 ft
- GARY ENTERPRISES DBA SPEEDY MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- MARTIN HEALTH SYSTEMBrownfields · 1400 ft
- CEMEX - STUART READY-MIXUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- FL POWER & LIGHT CO-STUART DIST OFFICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- STUART CITY - POLICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- SNO WHITE ROOFINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- STUART CITY - OLD GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- CITY OF STUART - SEWER PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- FLORIDA CANCER SPECIALISTS & RESEARCH INSTITUTE LLCBrownfields · 1700 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Stuart'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 Stuart.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Stuart
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Stuart
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 Stuart
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 Stuart average
Your land is one point inside Stuart
Everything above resolves to Stuart as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 5K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Martin 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 Stuart Average
Stuart Average
- ●USDA Zones 10b, averaged across Stuart
- ●One soil character for all of Stuart
- ●Frost dates read at Stuart's scale: Jan 19 to Dec 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Stuart's 10b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Stuart
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Stuart, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Stuart averages can't show:
We read public map data around Stuart — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Stuart average
How we know this about Stuart
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 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 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 Stuart
When does frost risk typically end in Stuart?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Stuart 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 Stuart?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Stuart 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 Stuart?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Stuart 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 Stuart?
The federal record around Stuart is a meaningful one — 760 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (385), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Stuart?
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 Stuart's scale — its 10b band and its 330-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Stuart'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 Stuart’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Stuart's own scale — the 4,556 acres it covers and 760 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Stuart's own USDA hardiness band, zones 10bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 760 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Stuart, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Stuart's boundary and the 4,556 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- The ecoregion at Stuart's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Stuart 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 Stuart's 4,556 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 Stuart's 4,556 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Stuart you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,556 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 Stuart-wide figureread your own land →