Archer, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
On paper, artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Archer, 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 Archer 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 Archer — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Archer — the short answer
Archer, Florida: USDA zone 9a, about 306 days between hard freezes, across 6K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 7
- Alachua County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 10
- Alachua County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~306
- Alachua County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 6K 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 Alachua County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Archer's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Archer's 306-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Archer
Each reading below is measured for Archer itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsArcher runs about 306 days between hard freezes (read from Alachua County, the closest normal to Archer) — 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
MeasuredArcher sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
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 Archer is in
Archer sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Archer's own centroid rather than borrowed from Alachua County.
What Grows in Archer
Every plant below cleared Archer's own zone 9a and its 306-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Archer?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 10; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 7 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 10 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.
What's on the federal record near Archer
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Archer. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- STEVENS RANCH ALBERT CUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- HIGH SPRINGS REFINISHINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- JOHN FRANCIS PECANSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- DIVISION OF FORESTRY-ARCHER SITEUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- MADDOX FOUNDRY & MACHINE WORKS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- HODGES GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.4 mi
- DUKES GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.4 mi
- CIRCLE K #2721306Underground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- MADDOX FNDYBrownfields · 3.5 mi
- MADDOX FNDYToxics Release Inventory · 3.5 mi
- BRICE LUMBER AND WOOD PRESERVING CO.Superfund · 3.5 mi
- FLORIDA DEP BRICE LUMBER STATE SITEBrownfields · 3.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Archer'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 Archer.
Total Sites
114
within ~10 miles of Archer
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Archer
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Archer
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 Archer
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 Archer average
Your land is one point inside Archer
Everything above resolves to Archer as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 6K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Alachua County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this city’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 city 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 Archer Average
Archer Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Archer
- ●One soil character for all of Archer
- ●Frost dates read at Archer's scale: Feb 7 to Dec 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Archer's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Archer
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Archer, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Archer averages can't show:
We read public map data around Archer — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Archer average
How we know this about Archer
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Alachua 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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Archer
When does frost risk typically end in Archer?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Archer typically lands around Feb 7, 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 28.
When is the first frost in Archer?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Archer typically arrives around Dec 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 26, so the watching starts about Nov 10 — about 306 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Archer?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Archer sees about 306 frost-free days — roughly Feb 7 through Dec 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 28 to Nov 26, about 271 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Archer?
The federal record around Archer is a meaningful one — 114 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (67), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.5 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 Archer?
From about Nov 10 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 10 (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 10. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Archer's scale — its 9a band and its 306-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Archer'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 Archer’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Archer's own scale — the 5,847 acres it covers and 114 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Archer's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 114 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Archer, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Archer's boundary and the 5,847 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~306-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Archer's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Archer has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Alachua County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Archer's 5,847 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Alachua County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Alachua 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 Alachua County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Archer's 5,847 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Archer you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 5,847 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.5 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 Archer-wide figureread your own land →
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