Bushnell, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
The conditions favor artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Bushnell, 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 Bushnell 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 Bushnell — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Bushnell — the short answer
Bushnell, Florida: USDA zone 9a, about 312 days between hard freezes, across 9K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 6
- Sumter County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 15
- Sumter County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~312
- Sumter County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 9K 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 Sumter County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Bushnell's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bushnell's 312-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Bushnell
Each reading below is measured for Bushnell itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBushnell runs about 312 days between hard freezes (read from Sumter County, the closest normal to Bushnell) — 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
MeasuredBushnell 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 Bushnell is in
Bushnell sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Bushnell's own centroid rather than borrowed from Sumter County.
What Grows in Bushnell
Every plant below cleared Bushnell'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 Bushnell?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 9; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 6 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 15 — 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 Bushnell
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Bushnell. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WINN-DIXIE STORE #2320Brownfields · 2000 ft
- METAL INDUSTRIES LLCToxics Release Inventory · 2300 ft
- METAL INDUSTRIES LLCBrownfields · 2300 ft
- SERVICE STATION #1164Underground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- DIVISION OF FORESTRY-BUSHNELL TOWERUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- SOUTH SUMTER HIGH SCHOOLBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- FIVE MOON USA 2 LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- SUMTER CNTY SCHOOL BD-BUS GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- CSX TRANSPORTATION INCBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- CVS #3639Brownfields · 1.3 mi
- SUNRISE FOOD STORE #72Underground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- KWIK CHEK GAS #2319Underground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Bushnell'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 Bushnell.
Total Sites
170
within ~10 miles of Bushnell
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
11 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Bushnell
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Bushnell
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Bushnell, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 11 sites within ~10 miles of Bushnell. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Bushnell
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 Bushnell average
Your land is one point inside Bushnell
Everything above resolves to Bushnell as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 9K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Sumter 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 Bushnell Average
Bushnell Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Bushnell
- ●One soil character for all of Bushnell
- ●Frost dates read at Bushnell's scale: Feb 6 to Dec 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bushnell's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Bushnell
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bushnell, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bushnell averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bushnell — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bushnell average
How we know this about Bushnell
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 Sumter 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 Bushnell
When does frost risk typically end in Bushnell?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bushnell typically lands around Feb 6, 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 27.
When is the first frost in Bushnell?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Bushnell typically arrives around Dec 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 1, so the watching starts about Nov 15 — about 312 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Bushnell?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bushnell sees about 312 frost-free days — roughly Feb 6 through Dec 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 27 to Dec 1, about 277 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Bushnell?
The federal record around Bushnell shows 170 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (81), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.4 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Bushnell?
From about Nov 15 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 15 (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 15. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Bushnell's scale — its 9a band and its 312-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bushnell'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 Bushnell’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Bushnell's own scale — the 8,730 acres it covers and 170 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bushnell's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 170 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Bushnell, the closest Brownfields record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Bushnell's boundary and the 8,730 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 Bushnell's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Bushnell has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Sumter County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Bushnell's 8,730 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Sumter County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Sumter 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 Sumter County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Bushnell's 8,730 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Bushnell you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 8,730 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.4 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 Bushnell-wide figureread your own land →
More in Florida
Wider growing context
What grows across FloridaBushnell sits outside our named growing regions, so Florida as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides