Chiefland, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Reliable performers under these conditions include artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Chiefland, 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 Chiefland 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 Chiefland — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Chiefland — the short answer
Chiefland, Florida: USDA zone 9a, about 310 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 3
- Levy County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 10
- Levy County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~310
- Levy 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 Levy County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Chiefland's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Chiefland's 310-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Chiefland
Each reading below is measured for Chiefland itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsChiefland runs about 310 days between hard freezes (read from Levy County, the closest normal to Chiefland) — 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
MeasuredChiefland 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 Chiefland is in
Chiefland sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Chiefland's own centroid rather than borrowed from Levy County.
What Grows in Chiefland
Every plant below cleared Chiefland's own zone 9a and its 310-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Chiefland?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 3 (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. 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 Chiefland
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Chiefland. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SCOGGINS CHEVROLETUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- SCOGGINS CHEVROLET BUICK INCBrownfields · 450 ft
- SWIFTY SERVE #623Underground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- GULF COAST PARTS SUPPLY LLCBrownfields · 650 ft
- RAYS REAL PIT BAR BQUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- MANN & DRUMMOND PARTNERSHIPUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- CHIEFLAND SPEED & MACHINEBrownfields · 850 ft
- CHIEFLAND TRU-GASUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- SOUTHERN BELL-CFLDFLWCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- A&M MANUFACTURINGBrownfields · 1400 ft
- CENTRAL FLORIDA ELECTRIC COOP INCBrownfields · 1500 ft
- SUNOCO-CHIEFLANDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Chiefland'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 Chiefland.
Total Sites
188
within ~10 miles of Chiefland
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Chiefland
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Chiefland
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Chiefland, CAFO runs higher than the national average — 3 sites within ~10 miles of Chiefland. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check your specific parcel in Chiefland
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 Chiefland average
Your land is one point inside Chiefland
Everything above resolves to Chiefland as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 4K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Levy 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 Chiefland Average
Chiefland Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Chiefland
- ●One soil character for all of Chiefland
- ●Frost dates read at Chiefland's scale: Feb 3 to Dec 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Chiefland's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Chiefland
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Chiefland, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Chiefland averages can't show:
We read public map data around Chiefland — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Chiefland average
How we know this about Chiefland
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 Levy 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 Chiefland
When does frost risk typically end in Chiefland?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Chiefland typically lands around Feb 3, 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 24.
When is the first frost in Chiefland?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Chiefland 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 310 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Chiefland?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Chiefland sees about 310 frost-free days — roughly Feb 3 through Dec 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 24 to Nov 26, about 275 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Chiefland?
The federal record around Chiefland is a meaningful one — 188 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (110), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Chiefland?
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 Chiefland's scale — its 9a band and its 310-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Chiefland'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 Chiefland’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Chiefland's own scale — the 4,323 acres it covers and 188 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Chiefland's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 188 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Chiefland, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Chiefland's boundary and the 4,323 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~310-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Chiefland's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Chiefland has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Levy County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Chiefland's 4,323 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Levy County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Levy 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 Levy County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Chiefland's 4,323 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Chiefland you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,323 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Chiefland-wide figureread your own land →
More in Florida
Wider growing context
What grows across FloridaChiefland sits outside our named growing regions, so Florida as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides