Taft, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 10a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
The conditions favor okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Taft, 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 Taft 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 Taft — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Taft — the short answer
Taft, Florida: USDA zone 10a, about 335 days between hard freezes, across 630 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 10a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 20
- Orange County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 21
- Orange County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~335
- Orange County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 630 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 Orange County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 10a is Taft's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Taft's 335-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Taft
Each reading below is measured for Taft itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsTaft runs about 335 days between hard freezes (read from Orange County, the closest normal to Taft) — 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
MeasuredTaft 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 Taft is in
Taft sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Taft's own centroid rather than borrowed from Orange County.
What Grows in Taft
Every plant below cleared Taft'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 Taft?
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 20 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 21 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near Taft
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Taft. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CIRCLE K #7199Underground Storage Tanks · 100 ft
- RED'S GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- PHOENIX TRANSPORT AND SERVICES INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- ORANGE CNTY FIRE DEPT #73Underground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- ACME TRUCK REPAIR INCBrownfields · 1500 ft
- MAX'S MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- TAFT WATER ASSOCIATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- TRUCK SERVICE GARAGE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- ARTHUR TRUCKING CO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- MID FL FORKLIFTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- ABC LIQUORSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- U.S. PIPE FABRICATION, LLCBrownfields · 2400 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Taft'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 Taft.
Total Sites
2,678
within ~10 miles of Taft
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
19 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Taft
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Taft
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.
- •TRI facilities report what they release. Check the wind — downwind beds catch more of it.
Check your specific parcel in Taft
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 Taft average
Your land is one point inside Taft
Everything above resolves to Taft as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 630 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Orange 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 Taft Average
Taft Average
- ●USDA Zones 10a, averaged across Taft
- ●One soil character for all of Taft
- ●Frost dates read at Taft's scale: Jan 20 to Dec 21
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Taft's 10a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Taft
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Taft, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Taft averages can't show:
We read public map data around Taft — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Taft average
How we know this about Taft
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 Orange 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 Taft
When does frost risk typically end in Taft?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Taft typically lands around Jan 20, 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 10.
When is the first frost in Taft?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Taft typically arrives around Dec 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 7, so the watching starts about Nov 21 — about 335 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Taft?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Taft sees about 335 frost-free days — roughly Jan 20 through Dec 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 10 to Dec 7, about 300 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Taft?
The federal record around Taft is a meaningful one — 2,678 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (1,501), 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 Taft?
From about Nov 21 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 21 (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 21. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Taft's scale — its 10a band and its 335-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Taft'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 Taft’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Taft's own scale — the 630 acres it covers and 2,678 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Taft's own USDA hardiness band, zones 10aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 2,678 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Taft, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Taft's boundary and the 630 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 Taft's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Taft has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Orange County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Taft's 630 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Orange County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Orange 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 Orange County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Taft's 630 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Taft you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 630 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 Taft-wide figureread your own land →
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