Zellwood, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Crops well matched to these conditions include okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Zellwood, 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 Zellwood 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 Zellwood — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Zellwood — the short answer
Zellwood, Florida: USDA zone 9b, about 335 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- 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
- 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 Orange County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Zellwood's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Zellwood's 335-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Zellwood
Each reading below is measured for Zellwood itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsZellwood runs about 335 days between hard freezes (read from Orange County, the closest normal to Zellwood) — 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
MeasuredZellwood 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 Zellwood is in
Zellwood sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Zellwood's own centroid rather than borrowed from Orange County.
What Grows in Zellwood
Every plant below cleared Zellwood's own zone 9b and its 335-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Zellwood?
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 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. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What's on the federal record near Zellwood
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Zellwood. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CHEMICAL SYSTEMS OF ORLANDO INCORPORATEDToxics Release Inventory · 0.6 mi
- CHEMICAL SYSTEMS OF ORLANDO INCORPORATEDBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- ZELLWOOD STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- DOUGLASS FERTILIZER & CHEMICAL INCORPORATEDToxics Release Inventory · 0.8 mi
- ZELLWOOD MAINT FACILITYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- COVERT PAINTING INCBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- APOPKA, CITY OF (5 WTPS)PFAS · 0.9 mi
- OR0107 PLYMOUTH TOWER SURFICIAL WELL NR PLYMOUTHNitrate · 1.0 mi
- OR0106 UPPER FL NR APOPKA,FLNitrate · 1.1 mi
- ORLANDO-APOPKA AIRPORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- LETSINGER PRODUCE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- ORLANDO CO AIRPORTBrownfields · 1.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Zellwood'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 Zellwood.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Zellwood
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Zellwood
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Zellwood, PFAS runs higher than the national average — 5 sites within ~10 miles of Zellwood. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Zellwood
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 Zellwood average
Your land is one point inside Zellwood
Everything above resolves to Zellwood as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K 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 Zellwood Average
Zellwood Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Zellwood
- ●One soil character for all of Zellwood
- ●Frost dates read at Zellwood's scale: Jan 20 to Dec 21
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Zellwood's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Zellwood
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Zellwood, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Zellwood averages can't show:
We read public map data around Zellwood — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Zellwood average
How we know this about Zellwood
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 Zellwood
When does frost risk typically end in Zellwood?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Zellwood 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 Zellwood?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Zellwood 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 Zellwood?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Zellwood 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 Zellwood?
The federal record around Zellwood is a meaningful one — 582 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (309), the nearest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.6 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 Zellwood?
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 Zellwood's scale — its 9b band and its 335-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Zellwood'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 Zellwood’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Zellwood's own scale — the 2,408 acres it covers and 582 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Zellwood's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 582 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Zellwood, the closest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Zellwood's boundary and the 2,408 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~335-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Zellwood's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Zellwood 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 Zellwood's 2,408 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 Zellwood's 2,408 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Zellwood you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,408 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.6 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 Zellwood-wide figureread your own land →
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