Last Frost Dates for FLORIDA

Knowing the last frost dates in your general area is quite useful to accurately decide when to either plant out your new / small plant purchases or to move tropicals outside for spring.

Click the map to the right to view larger on your screen.  You can also read more here.  The map is interactive at that link as well if you'd like to zoom in on your city.

UPDATE 2025:   Map shown on this page was published in 2018 and accurately shows historical climate data for Florida.   Map now shown at the link to plantmaps.com is from a 2023 update that reflects results for 1991-2020 only.

Old timers in the South  often made weather predictions from watching the migrations of the Canadian geese.  Might still be a useful tool!

Lots of variance in a short span.

Notice the dates will vary considerably even at the same latitude within the state, from one coast to the other.  Frost will occur in some pockets and not others, depending on the elevation of the land, and the patterns of the winds that are carrying a given cold front.

I count 7  (really?!)  different frost dates across Central FL,  from Gainesville to Tampa / St Pete  to Orlando / Melbourne!  Those 7 dates represent known micro-niches within zone 9 alone, and span across 8 full weeks.  Is it any wonder we all seem to disagree on how and when  to start our garden?

So frost dates also vary a lot within the same zone!  Zones just tell you what grows well (maybe!), and if it takes your high temperatures or low temperatures, but that won't explain when to start planting.

Humidity changes things too.

Nor will zone information tell you about the humidity:   zone 9 in CA is much dryer than zone 9 in FL for example, and so some zone 9 plants will grow better in one place than another.  Sometimes we can compensate by planting our tree on a little mound for better drainage, if root rot is the issue.  Humidity also makes our soil chemistry is much different -- but that's a discussion for another day!

If you'd like more information on planting zones, click here.  And if you'd like to read more about chilling hours, click here.