Zolfo Springs, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Reliable performers under these conditions include okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Zolfo Springs, 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 Zolfo Springs 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 Zolfo Springs — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Zolfo Springs — the short answer
Zolfo Springs, Florida: USDA zone 9b, about 331 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 19
- Hardee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 16
- Hardee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~331
- Hardee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town 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 Hardee County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Zolfo Springs's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Zolfo Springs's 331-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Zolfo Springs
Each reading below is measured for Zolfo Springs itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsZolfo Springs runs about 331 days between hard freezes (read from Hardee County, the closest normal to Zolfo Springs) — 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
MeasuredZolfo Springs 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 Zolfo Springs is in
Zolfo Springs sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Zolfo Springs's own centroid rather than borrowed from Hardee County.
What Grows in Zolfo Springs
Every plant below cleared Zolfo Springs's own zone 9b and its 331-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Zolfo Springs?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. 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 19 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 16 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
What's on the federal record near Zolfo Springs
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Zolfo Springs. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ZOLFO SPRINGS CITYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- CIRCLE K #7285Underground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- MANCINI PACKING COUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- HOWARD PARNELL RANCHUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- CITY ZOLFO SPGS DEEP WELL NO 242 ZOLFO SPRINGS FLNitrate · 0.5 mi
- ZOLFO SPRINGS SUPERMARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- MAURICE BALLARDUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- UNION 76 ALLENS-ADAMS OIL COUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- CREWSVILLE GROVEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- BALLARD PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- UNION 76-ALLEN'SUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- CIRCLE K #7085Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Zolfo Springs'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 Zolfo Springs.
Total Sites
197
within ~10 miles of Zolfo Springs
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Zolfo Springs
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Zolfo Springs
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Zolfo Springs, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 122 sites within ~10 miles of Zolfo Springs. 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 Zolfo Springs
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 Zolfo Springs average
Your land is one point inside Zolfo Springs
Everything above resolves to Zolfo Springs as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Hardee 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 Zolfo Springs Average
Zolfo Springs Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Zolfo Springs
- ●One soil character for all of Zolfo Springs
- ●Frost dates read at Zolfo Springs's scale: Jan 19 to Dec 16
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Zolfo Springs's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Zolfo Springs
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Zolfo Springs, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Zolfo Springs averages can't show:
We read public map data around Zolfo Springs — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Zolfo Springs average
How we know this about Zolfo Springs
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 Hardee 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 Zolfo Springs
When does frost risk typically end in Zolfo Springs?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Zolfo Springs typically lands around Jan 19, 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 9.
When is the first frost in Zolfo Springs?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Zolfo Springs typically arrives around Dec 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 2, so the watching starts about Nov 16 — about 331 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Zolfo Springs?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Zolfo Springs sees about 331 frost-free days — roughly Jan 19 through Dec 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 9 to Dec 2, about 296 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Zolfo Springs?
The federal record around Zolfo Springs is a meaningful one — 197 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (122), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Zolfo Springs?
From about Nov 16 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 16 (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 16. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Zolfo Springs's scale — its 9b band and its 331-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Zolfo Springs'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 Zolfo Springs’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Zolfo Springs's own scale — the 1,113 acres it covers and 197 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Zolfo Springs's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 197 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Zolfo Springs, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Zolfo Springs's boundary and the 1,113 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~331-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Zolfo Springs's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Zolfo Springs has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Hardee County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Zolfo Springs's 1,113 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hardee County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hardee 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 Hardee County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Zolfo Springs's 1,113 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Zolfo Springs you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,113 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Zolfo Springs-wide figureread your own land →
More in Florida
Wider growing context
What grows across FloridaZolfo Springs sits outside our named growing regions, so Florida as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides