Winter Haven, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 10a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
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 Winter Haven, 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 Winter Haven 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 Winter Haven — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Winter Haven — the short answer
Winter Haven, Florida: USDA zone 10a, about 332 days between hard freezes, across 21K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 10a
- 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
- City area
- 21K 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 10a is Winter Haven's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Winter Haven's 332-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Winter Haven
Each reading below is measured for Winter Haven itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsWinter Haven runs about 332 days between hard freezes (read from Polk County, the closest normal to Winter Haven) — 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
MeasuredWinter Haven 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 Winter Haven is in
Winter Haven sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Winter Haven's own centroid rather than borrowed from Polk County.
What Grows in Winter Haven
Every plant below cleared Winter Haven's own zone 10a and its 332-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Winter Haven?
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. 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 Winter Haven
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Winter Haven. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MCARTHUR PROPERTY(FORMER SWAN)Underground Storage Tanks · 200 ft
- HOME DEPOT STORE #6371Brownfields · 250 ft
- KMART #3461Underground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- AT&T RADIO RELAY STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- CYPRESS TIREBrownfields · 650 ft
- O'REILLY AUTO PARTS #4930Brownfields · 800 ft
- STEAK & SHAKEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- HAINES CITY ELECTRIC INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- RACETRAC #2316Underground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- USDA ARS FL CITRUS & SUB PROD LABBrownfields · 1300 ft
- TAMPA ELECTRIC CO - POLK CO OPERATIONS CTRUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- MYSTIC - MELLAURN QUICK SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Winter Haven'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 Winter Haven.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Winter Haven
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Winter Haven
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 Winter Haven
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 Winter Haven average
Your land is one point inside Winter Haven
Everything above resolves to Winter Haven as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 21K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Polk 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 Winter Haven Average
Winter Haven Average
- ●USDA Zones 10a, averaged across Winter Haven
- ●One soil character for all of Winter Haven
- ●Frost dates read at Winter Haven's scale: Jan 22 to Dec 20
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Winter Haven's 10a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Winter Haven
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Winter Haven, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Winter Haven averages can't show:
We read public map data around Winter Haven — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Winter Haven average
How we know this about Winter Haven
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 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 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 Winter Haven
When does frost risk typically end in Winter Haven?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Winter Haven 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 Winter Haven?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Winter Haven 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 Winter Haven?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Winter Haven 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 Winter Haven?
The federal record around Winter Haven is a meaningful one — 1,111 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (602), 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 Winter Haven?
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 Winter Haven's scale — its 10a band and its 332-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Winter Haven'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 Winter Haven’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Winter Haven's own scale — the 21,265 acres it covers and 1,111 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Winter Haven's own USDA hardiness band, zones 10aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 1,111 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Winter Haven, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Winter Haven's boundary and the 21,265 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 10a and a ~332-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Winter Haven's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Winter Haven 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 Winter Haven's 21,265 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 Winter Haven's 21,265 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Winter Haven you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 21,265 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 Winter Haven-wide figureread your own land →
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