Altoona, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
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 Altoona, 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 Altoona 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 Altoona — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Altoona — the short answer
Altoona, Florida: USDA zone 9b, about 328 days between hard freezes, across 287 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 26
- Lake County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 20
- Lake County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~328
- Lake County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 287 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 Lake County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Altoona's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Altoona's 328-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Altoona
Each reading below is measured for Altoona itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsAltoona runs about 328 days between hard freezes (read from Lake County, the closest normal to Altoona) — 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
MeasuredAltoona 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 Altoona is in
Altoona sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Altoona's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lake County.
What Grows in Altoona
Every plant below cleared Altoona's own zone 9b and its 328-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Altoona?
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 26 (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. 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 Altoona
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Altoona. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ALTOONA DISCOUNT STORE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- CIRCLE K #2722501Underground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- ALTOONA DISCOUNT FOOD MART-COX OILUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- SANDY ACRESUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- DISCOUNT FOOD 99.CENT STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- LAKEVIEW TERRACE RETIREMENT COMMUNITYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- MAS1-19 4IN WELL(TALLAHASSEE DIST SAMPL)Nitrate · 0.5 mi
- MEEKERS QUIK STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- O'REILLY AUTO PARTS #6538Brownfields · 2.2 mi
- LAKE CNTY UMATILLA MAINT BARN-DIST RD #5-7878Underground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- CHISHOLM TRAIL CAMPGROUNDUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- MERCER PRODS COToxics Release Inventory · 2.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Altoona'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 Altoona.
Total Sites
208
within ~10 miles of Altoona
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Altoona
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Altoona
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 Altoona
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 Altoona average
Your land is one point inside Altoona
Everything above resolves to Altoona as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 287 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Lake 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 Altoona Average
Altoona Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Altoona
- ●One soil character for all of Altoona
- ●Frost dates read at Altoona's scale: Jan 26 to Dec 20
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Altoona's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Altoona
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Altoona, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Altoona averages can't show:
We read public map data around Altoona — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Altoona average
How we know this about Altoona
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 Lake 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 Altoona
When does frost risk typically end in Altoona?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Altoona typically lands around Jan 26, 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 16.
When is the first frost in Altoona?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Altoona 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 328 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Altoona?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Altoona sees about 328 frost-free days — roughly Jan 26 through Dec 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 16 to Dec 6, about 293 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Altoona?
The federal record around Altoona is a meaningful one — 208 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (118), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Altoona?
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 Altoona's scale — its 9b band and its 328-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Altoona'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 Altoona’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Altoona's own scale — the 287 acres it covers and 208 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Altoona's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 208 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Altoona, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Altoona's boundary and the 287 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~328-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Altoona's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Altoona has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Lake County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Altoona's 287 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lake County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lake 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 Lake County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Altoona's 287 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Altoona you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 287 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Altoona-wide figureread your own land →
More in Florida
Growing region