Carrabelle, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Among the crops suited to this profile: tomato, sweet potato, jalapeno, and loquat. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Carrabelle, 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 Carrabelle 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 Carrabelle — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Carrabelle — the short answer
Carrabelle, Florida: USDA zone 9a, about 333 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 22
- Franklin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 21
- Franklin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~333
- Franklin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City 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 Franklin County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Carrabelle's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Carrabelle's 333-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Carrabelle
Each reading below is measured for Carrabelle itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsCarrabelle runs about 333 days between hard freezes (read from Franklin County, the closest normal to Carrabelle) — 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
MeasuredCarrabelle 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 Carrabelle is in
Carrabelle sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Carrabelle's own centroid rather than borrowed from Franklin County.
What Grows in Carrabelle
Plants matched to Carrabelle's USDA zones 9a, ordered by how much hardiness margin each has here — the ones with room to spare at both ends of this town's band lead. Each links to its full growing profile.
Is it too late to plant in Carrabelle?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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 22 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 21 — 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 Carrabelle
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Carrabelle. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- C-QUARTERS MARINAUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- EXPRESS LANE #75 (#195)Underground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- BP - HOMETOWNUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- CARRABELLE MARINAUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- CROWDER PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- THE MOORINGS OF CARRABELLE LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- EXPRESS LANE #710 - FL0020Underground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- BP-COXSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- RILEY'S BAIT & TACKLEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- EXPRESS LANE #85Underground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- CARRABELLE RIVER MARINAUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- CARRABELLE BOAT CLUB LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Carrabelle'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 Carrabelle.
Total Sites
26
within ~10 miles of Carrabelle
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Carrabelle
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Carrabelle, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 23 sites within ~10 miles of Carrabelle. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Carrabelle
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 Carrabelle average
Your land is one point inside Carrabelle
Everything above resolves to Carrabelle as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Franklin 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 Carrabelle Average
Carrabelle Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Carrabelle
- ●One soil character for all of Carrabelle
- ●Frost dates read at Carrabelle's scale: Jan 22 to Dec 21
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Carrabelle's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Carrabelle
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Carrabelle, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Carrabelle averages can't show:
We read public map data around Carrabelle — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Carrabelle average
How we know this about Carrabelle
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 Franklin 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 Carrabelle
When does frost risk typically end in Carrabelle?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Carrabelle typically lands around Jan 22, 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 12.
When is the first frost in Carrabelle?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Carrabelle typically arrives around Dec 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 7, so the watching starts about Nov 21 — about 333 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Carrabelle?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Carrabelle sees about 333 frost-free days — roughly Jan 22 through Dec 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 12 to Dec 7, about 298 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Carrabelle?
The federal record around Carrabelle is a meaningful one — 26 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (23), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Carrabelle?
From about Nov 21 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 21 (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 21. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Carrabelle's scale — its 9a band and its 333-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Carrabelle'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 Carrabelle’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Carrabelle's own scale — the 3,064 acres it covers and 26 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Carrabelle's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 26 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Carrabelle, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Carrabelle's boundary and the 3,064 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- The ecoregion at Carrabelle's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Carrabelle has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Franklin County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Carrabelle's 3,064 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Franklin County
- The candidate plant list — Florida's curated set, filtered to this zone band and re-ordered by how much margin each has herefrom Florida
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Franklin 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 Franklin County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Carrabelle's 3,064 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Carrabelle you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,064 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Carrabelle-wide figureread your own land →