Black Diamond, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Among the crops suited to this profile: artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Black Diamond, 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 Black Diamond 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 Black Diamond — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Black Diamond — the short answer
Black Diamond, Florida: USDA zone 9a, about 312 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 4
- Citrus County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 13
- Citrus County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~312
- Citrus County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 Citrus County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Black Diamond's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Black Diamond's 312-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Black Diamond
Each reading below is measured for Black Diamond itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBlack Diamond runs about 312 days between hard freezes (read from Citrus County, the closest normal to Black Diamond) — 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
MeasuredBlack Diamond 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 Black Diamond is in
Black Diamond sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Black Diamond's own centroid rather than borrowed from Citrus County.
What Grows in Black Diamond
Every plant below cleared Black Diamond's own zone 9a and its 312-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Black Diamond?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 7; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 4 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 13 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near Black Diamond
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Black Diamond. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BLACK DIAMOND RANCH GCBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- HERITAGE ANTIQUES MALLUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- NICK NICHOLAS FORDUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- VA COMMUNITY BASED OPCBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- CITRUS CNTY-RESOURCE CTR-VA CLINICUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- CITRUS CNTY-LECANTO COMPLEXUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- TEAM WAYNE AUTOMOTIVE & COLLISION CENTERBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- WALMART SUPERCENTER #5772Brownfields · 1.1 mi
- CIRCLE K #2705995Underground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- GENESISCARE OF FLORIDA LLCBrownfields · 1.3 mi
- CLOVER LAWN EQUIPMENTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- BEVERLY HILLS FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Black Diamond'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 Black Diamond.
Total Sites
330
within ~10 miles of Black Diamond
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Black Diamond
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Black Diamond
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Black Diamond, PFAS runs higher than the national average — 5 sites within ~10 miles of Black Diamond. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Black Diamond
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 Black Diamond average
Your land is one point inside Black Diamond
Everything above resolves to Black Diamond as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Citrus 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 Black Diamond Average
Black Diamond Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Black Diamond
- ●One soil character for all of Black Diamond
- ●Frost dates read at Black Diamond's scale: Feb 4 to Dec 13
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Black Diamond's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Black Diamond
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Black Diamond, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Black Diamond averages can't show:
We read public map data around Black Diamond — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Black Diamond average
How we know this about Black Diamond
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 Citrus 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 Black Diamond
When does frost risk typically end in Black Diamond?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Black Diamond typically lands around Feb 4, 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 25.
When is the first frost in Black Diamond?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Black Diamond typically arrives around Dec 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 29, so the watching starts about Nov 13 — about 312 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Black Diamond?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Black Diamond sees about 312 frost-free days — roughly Feb 4 through Dec 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 25 to Nov 29, about 277 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Black Diamond?
The federal record around Black Diamond is a meaningful one — 330 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (195), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.8 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 Black Diamond?
From about Nov 13 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 13 (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 13. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Black Diamond's scale — its 9a band and its 312-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Black Diamond'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 Black Diamond’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Black Diamond's own scale — the 2,524 acres it covers and 330 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Black Diamond's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 330 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Black Diamond, the closest Brownfields record about 0.8 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Black Diamond's boundary and the 2,524 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~312-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Black Diamond's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Black Diamond has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Citrus County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Black Diamond's 2,524 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Citrus County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Citrus 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 Citrus County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Black Diamond's 2,524 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Black Diamond you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,524 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.8 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 Black Diamond-wide figureread your own land →
More in Florida
Wider growing context
What grows across FloridaBlack Diamond sits outside our named growing regions, so Florida as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides