Waldo, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
The conditions favor artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Waldo, 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 Waldo 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 Waldo — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Waldo — the short answer
Waldo, Florida: USDA zone 9a, about 306 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 7
- Alachua County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 10
- Alachua County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~306
- Alachua County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 1K 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 Alachua County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Waldo's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Waldo's 306-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Waldo
Each reading below is measured for Waldo itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsWaldo runs about 306 days between hard freezes (read from Alachua County, the closest normal to Waldo) — 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
MeasuredWaldo sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
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 Waldo is in
Waldo sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Waldo's own centroid rather than borrowed from Alachua County.
What Grows in Waldo
Every plant below cleared Waldo's own zone 9a and its 306-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Waldo?
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 10; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 7 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 10 — 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 Waldo
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Waldo. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WALDO LAUNDRY MATUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- GANZENHUBET & GIBSON PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- 94721001 08S21E14 WALDO FIRE DEPT.Nitrate · 850 ft
- TWENTY EIGHT CORPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- WALDO ONE LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- SUNSHINE FOOD MART #127Underground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- RACEWAY #6840Underground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- JOY FOOD STORE #428Underground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- SUNSHINE FOOD MART #286Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- DEMARIO PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- MAIS ST DOT TANKUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- WALDO CITY-SEWAGE DISPOSAL PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Waldo'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 Waldo.
Total Sites
140
within ~10 miles of Waldo
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
4 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Waldo
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Waldo
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Waldo, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 95 sites within ~10 miles of Waldo. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Waldo
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 Waldo average
Your land is one point inside Waldo
Everything above resolves to Waldo as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Alachua 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 Waldo Average
Waldo Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Waldo
- ●One soil character for all of Waldo
- ●Frost dates read at Waldo's scale: Feb 7 to Dec 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Waldo's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Waldo
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Waldo, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Waldo averages can't show:
We read public map data around Waldo — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Waldo average
How we know this about Waldo
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 Alachua 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 Waldo
When does frost risk typically end in Waldo?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Waldo typically lands around Feb 7, 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 28.
When is the first frost in Waldo?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Waldo typically arrives around Dec 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 26, so the watching starts about Nov 10 — about 306 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Waldo?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Waldo sees about 306 frost-free days — roughly Feb 7 through Dec 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 28 to Nov 26, about 271 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Waldo?
The federal record around Waldo shows 140 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (95), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Waldo?
From about Nov 10 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 10 (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 10. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Waldo's scale — its 9a band and its 306-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Waldo'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 Waldo’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Waldo's own scale — the 1,393 acres it covers and 140 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Waldo's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 140 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Waldo, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Waldo's boundary and the 1,393 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~306-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Waldo's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Waldo has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Alachua County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Waldo's 1,393 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Alachua County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Alachua 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 Alachua County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Waldo's 1,393 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Waldo you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,393 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 Waldo-wide figureread your own land →
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