Cold Hardy Avocado Tree

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Cold Hardy Avocado Tree

Avocado Trees That Are Cold Hardy To 15 Degrees???
Incredulous!

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

And yes there really is such a thing as a Cold Tolerant Avocado Tree -- down to 15-19° F!

Found in the mountainous regions of Mexico, there are several varieties of avocados that can truly be called "cold tolerant" enough for North Central Florida -- cold hardy enough to withstand hard freezes with some sustained damage. But only as mature trees: read below!

That also means they are suitable for growing in other parts of zone 9 where freezes may only be an occasional concern, but real nonetheless.

That said, it's still prudent to protect a young avocado tree from hard freezes, giving it time to mature and harden. The more established the root system, the hardier the plant.

Avocado fruits hanging on an avocado tree

Grafted avocados produce fruit in one to two years out of the pot, compared to 8-20 years for seedlings.

Typical 15gal Avocado Tree:

Grafted / Bearing age

shipment of avocado trees

massive burst of blossoms

Best Cold Tolerant Avocado Varieties
for our freezes:

LILA

Cold tolerant to 15°, Lila has a smooth textured flesh, with a rich nutty flavor, and tastes like an avocado should!

It produces a medium sized, pear shaped fruit about 6-10oz in size that remains a pretty green when ripe.

Ripens July-Sept. aka 'Opal'; Type A

Not to be confused with the very popular south Florida variety known as Lula: Lula is only hardy to 25°F.

PONCHO

Cold hardy to 15°, Pancho tastes more like the Fantastic than the Lila, but produces a green fruit with a bit of red blush when ripe.

Also a pear-shaped fruit, approximately 6-8oz in size.

Ripens July-Sept. aka 'Pancho' Type B

FANTASTIC

Cold hardy to 15°, Fantastic is true to its name! It produces a small oval, all-green fruit with paper thin skin. Some say they eat the skins: not my thing.

The fruit has a creamy texture with "fantastic flavors". Has the highest oil content of these 5 cold hardy avocados.

Ripens Sept. aka 'Pryor' Type A

JOEY

Cold hardy to 15°, Joey is a medium sized, egg-shaped fruit with great flavor, but the thin exterior skin is naturally purple black in color, making it difficult to see bruises.

BRAZO BELLE

Cold hardy to 15°, Brazo Belle is another medium to large sized fruit that has purple-black skin.

Weighs 6-8oz at maturity.

Ripens Sept. aka 'Wilma'; Type B

While Brazo Belle does very well in Texas freezes, it doesn't stand up to our Florida fungi as well.

new avocado leaves up close

Avocado blossoms

All five of these avocados have an incredibly high oil content, similar to the Hass (Haas). These range from 16-19% oil, Hass is approximately 19-21% oil content.

By comparison, the "Florida green" avocados have an oil content around 5-8 %.

Growing Tips for cold tolerant avocados:

These cold tolerant varieties thrive best if planted in an environment protected from wind, cold, and sun.

Here in North Florida, partial shade for a few mid day hours is far more desirable than full sun, unlike their tropical cousins. A tall pine planted approximately 20' south of your new tree is sufficient for a mid-day shadow for a couple of hours. Think 11-2pm (natural sun time, not daylight savings time).

It is the trees with 8-10" trunks that have survived low temperatures into the high teens -- and they DO lose about 30% of their foliage and branches at those temperatures, but have been known to grow back heartily the following year.

In other words, it's last year's growth that freezes. 2 year old growth is hardened off and is usually fine.

All avocados need good drainage: standing water will smother the roots and results in death of the tree. If you are in a low lying area, build up a mound to plant your tree on higher ground.

15g planted one year

More on Freeze Protection

At our nursery, we've found a 1" trunk tree will take short, light freezes for 1-3 hours at 28-30° without sustaining damage, if planted with wind protection to the north and west.

A 3" trunk tree will take 8-10 hour freezes down to 26°, but 24° is too much and you'll lose a considerable amount of the tree.

Update spring 2022: reports of a 3" trunk Lila sustained no damage at 22º in Milton, FL --- with wind protection of course.

Trees in Texas with 6-10" trunks survived 15-18° freezes for short durations, only losing about 30% of the foliage. But since the trees were about 30' tall, this left a sizeable 20' tree to fruit the following spring.

UPDATES for 2026:
Fantastic 15g in stock
lg ~ 6'+ tall x 2.5-3'wide
no Lila, Poncho, or Joey this season