Center Hill, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Well-matched crops include okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Center Hill, 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 Center Hill 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 Center Hill — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Center Hill — the short answer
Center Hill, Florida: USDA zone 9b, about 312 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- 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
- 4K 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 9b is Center Hill's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Center Hill's 312-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Center Hill
Each reading below is measured for Center Hill itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsCenter Hill runs about 312 days between hard freezes (read from Sumter County, the closest normal to Center Hill) — 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
MeasuredCenter Hill 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 Center Hill is in
Center Hill sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Center Hill's own centroid rather than borrowed from Sumter County.
What Grows in Center Hill
Every plant below cleared Center Hill's own zone 9b and its 312-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Center Hill?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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. 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 Center Hill
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Center Hill. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MCIUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- AA DISCOUNTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- FLORIDA BEEF, INC.Toxics Release Inventory · 1.9 mi
- CENTRAL PACKING CO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- CENTRAL BEEF INDUSTRIES FACILITY EXPANSIONToxics Release Inventory · 1.9 mi
- CENTER HILL AUTOMOTIVEBrownfields · 2.2 mi
- 836202131WEBSTER CITY WELL AT WEBSTER, FL.Nitrate · 2.2 mi
- WEBSTER FARM SUPPLYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- BP STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- CEMEX CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS FLORIDA LLCBrownfields · 2.3 mi
- JENNINGS CITRUS PACKERSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- JACKIE'S MARKET SUNOCOUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Center Hill'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 Center Hill.
Total Sites
128
within ~10 miles of Center Hill
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
9 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Center Hill
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Center Hill
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Center Hill, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 9 sites within ~10 miles of Center Hill. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Center Hill
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 Center Hill average
Your land is one point inside Center Hill
Everything above resolves to Center Hill as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 4K 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 Center Hill Average
Center Hill Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Center Hill
- ●One soil character for all of Center Hill
- ●Frost dates read at Center Hill's scale: Feb 6 to Dec 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Center Hill's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Center Hill
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Center Hill, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Center Hill averages can't show:
We read public map data around Center Hill — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Center Hill average
How we know this about Center Hill
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 Center Hill
When does frost risk typically end in Center Hill?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Center Hill 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 Center Hill?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Center Hill 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 Center Hill?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Center Hill 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 Center Hill?
The federal record around Center Hill shows 128 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (77), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.8 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 Center Hill?
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 Center Hill's scale — its 9b band and its 312-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Center Hill'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 Center Hill’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Center Hill's own scale — the 3,914 acres it covers and 128 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Center Hill's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 128 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Center Hill, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.8 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Center Hill's boundary and the 3,914 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~312-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Center Hill's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Center Hill 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 Center Hill's 3,914 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 Center Hill's 3,914 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Center Hill you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,914 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.8 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 Center Hill-wide figureread your own land →
More in Florida
Wider growing context
What grows across FloridaCenter Hill sits outside our named growing regions, so Florida as a whole is its closest context here.