Willow Oak, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Among the crops suited to this profile: okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Willow Oak, 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 Willow Oak 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 Willow Oak — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Willow Oak — the short answer
Willow Oak, Florida: USDA zone 9b, about 332 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 22
- Polk County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 20
- Polk County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~332
- Polk County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 Polk County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Willow Oak's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Willow Oak's 332-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Willow Oak
Each reading below is measured for Willow Oak itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsWillow Oak runs about 332 days between hard freezes (read from Polk County, the closest normal to Willow Oak) — 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
MeasuredWillow Oak 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 Willow Oak is in
Willow Oak sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Willow Oak's own centroid rather than borrowed from Polk County.
What Grows in Willow Oak
Every plant below cleared Willow Oak's own zone 9b and its 332-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Willow Oak?
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 22 (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. 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 Willow Oak
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Willow Oak. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MMC FOODMART INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- P & A WELDING AND MACHINE INCBrownfields · 1400 ft
- ANGEL FOODMARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- MID-FLORIDA AUTO SALVAGEBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- SPIKERS ASPHALTBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- SCRAP IT LLCBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- C. DEEP BIEBRICHER WELL NEAR MULBERRY FLNitrate · 0.8 mi
- SIMS CRANE & EQUIPMENT COBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- J A MILES OIL COUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- PRESTO FOOD STORE #55Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- FORMER FILLING STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- TAMPA ELECTRIC CO - MAGNOLIABrownfields · 1.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Willow Oak'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 Willow Oak.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Willow Oak
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Willow Oak
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Willow Oak, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Willow Oak — Superfund (18 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (75 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Willow Oak
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 Willow Oak average
Your land is one point inside Willow Oak
Everything above resolves to Willow Oak as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Polk 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 Willow Oak Average
Willow Oak Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Willow Oak
- ●One soil character for all of Willow Oak
- ●Frost dates read at Willow Oak's scale: Jan 22 to Dec 20
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Willow Oak's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Willow Oak
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Willow Oak, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Willow Oak averages can't show:
We read public map data around Willow Oak — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Willow Oak average
How we know this about Willow Oak
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 Polk 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 Willow Oak
When does frost risk typically end in Willow Oak?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Willow Oak typically lands around Jan 22, 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 12.
When is the first frost in Willow Oak?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Willow Oak 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 332 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Willow Oak?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Willow Oak sees about 332 frost-free days — roughly Jan 22 through Dec 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 12 to Dec 6, about 297 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Willow Oak?
The federal record around Willow Oak is a meaningful one — 1,170 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (577), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Willow Oak?
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 Willow Oak's scale — its 9b band and its 332-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Willow Oak'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 Willow Oak’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Willow Oak's own scale — the 1,996 acres it covers and 1,170 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Willow Oak's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 1,170 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Willow Oak, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Willow Oak's boundary and the 1,996 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~332-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Willow Oak's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Willow Oak has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Polk County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Willow Oak's 1,996 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Polk County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Polk 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 Polk County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Willow Oak's 1,996 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Willow Oak you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,996 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Willow Oak-wide figureread your own land →
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