Welaka, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Growers here do well with okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Welaka, 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 Welaka 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 Welaka — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Welaka — the short answer
Welaka, Florida: USDA zone 9b, about 320 days between hard freezes, across 950 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 1
- Putnam County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 18
- Putnam County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~320
- Putnam County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 950 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 Putnam County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Welaka's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Welaka's 320-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Welaka
Each reading below is measured for Welaka itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsWelaka runs about 320 days between hard freezes (read from Putnam County, the closest normal to Welaka) — 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
MeasuredWelaka sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b.
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 Welaka is in
Welaka sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Welaka's own centroid rather than borrowed from Putnam County.
What Grows in Welaka
Every plant below cleared Welaka's own zone 9b and its 320-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Welaka?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 1 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 18 — 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 Welaka
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Welaka. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SOUTHERN BELL-PMPKFLMA 33474Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- UNIV OF FL-RESEARCH CTRUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- WELAKA PHARMACYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- CIRCLE K #2722157Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- GIFFORD GRANGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- QUEEN'S AUTO PARTS & HARDWAREUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- BASE HAVEN LODGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- MAS1-18 4IN WELLNitrate · 1.1 mi
- JACK ALLEN PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- FPL COMO SUBSTATIONBrownfields · 3.6 mi
- HILLS HARDWARE & RECYCLING INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- KIRKWOOD ESTATESPFAS · 3.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Welaka'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 Welaka.
Total Sites
89
within ~10 miles of Welaka
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Welaka
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Welaka
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Welaka, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 66 sites within ~10 miles of Welaka. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
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 Welaka
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 Welaka average
Your land is one point inside Welaka
Everything above resolves to Welaka as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 950 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Putnam 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 Welaka Average
Welaka Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Welaka
- ●One soil character for all of Welaka
- ●Frost dates read at Welaka's scale: Feb 1 to Dec 18
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Welaka's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Welaka
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Welaka, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Welaka averages can't show:
We read public map data around Welaka — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Welaka average
How we know this about Welaka
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 Putnam 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 Welaka
When does frost risk typically end in Welaka?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Welaka typically lands around Feb 1, 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 22.
When is the first frost in Welaka?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Welaka typically arrives around Dec 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 4, so the watching starts about Nov 18 — about 320 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Welaka?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Welaka sees about 320 frost-free days — roughly Feb 1 through Dec 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 22 to Dec 4, about 285 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Welaka?
The federal record around Welaka is a meaningful one — 89 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (66), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 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 Welaka?
From about Nov 18 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 18 (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 18. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Welaka's scale — its 9b band and its 320-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Welaka'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 Welaka’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Welaka's own scale — the 950 acres it covers and 89 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Welaka's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 89 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Welaka, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Welaka's boundary and the 950 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~320-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Welaka's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Welaka has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Putnam County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Welaka's 950 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Putnam County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Putnam 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 Putnam County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Welaka's 950 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Welaka you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 950 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 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 Welaka-wide figureread your own land →
More in Florida
Wider growing context
What grows across FloridaWelaka sits outside our named growing regions, so Florida as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides