Chumuckla, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
The conditions favor tomato, sweet potato, jalapeno, and loquat, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Chumuckla, 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 Chumuckla 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 Chumuckla — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Chumuckla — the short answer
Chumuckla, Florida: USDA zone 8b, about 299 days between hard freezes, across 13K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 10
- Santa Rosa County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 6
- Santa Rosa County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~299
- Santa Rosa County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 13K 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 Santa Rosa County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Chumuckla's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Chumuckla's 299-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Chumuckla
Each reading below is measured for Chumuckla itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsChumuckla runs about 299 days between hard freezes (read from Santa Rosa County, the closest normal to Chumuckla) — 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
MeasuredChumuckla sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b.
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 Chumuckla is in
Chumuckla sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Chumuckla's own centroid rather than borrowed from Santa Rosa County.
What Grows in Chumuckla
Plants matched to Chumuckla's USDA zones 8b, 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 Chumuckla?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 13; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 10 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 6 — 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 Chumuckla
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Chumuckla. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- TOM THUMB FOOD STORE #34Underground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- KELLEYS DELI & COUNTRY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- NORTHWEST FLORIDA OUTBOARD MACHINE SHOPBrownfields · 1.5 mi
- SANTA ROSA CNTY BD OF COMM-DIST#3Underground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- ANCHORS AWAY BOAT REPAIR & SERVICEBrownfields · 2.1 mi
- T.D.SALTER,S.R.197Nitrate · 2.4 mi
- NWWMD P199601153Nitrate · 2.5 mi
- CHAMPION INTL CORP-SANTA ROSA SEEDUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- W T STEWARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- J.A.JACKSON WELLNitrate · 4.0 mi
- UNIV OF FL-ARECUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.0 mi
- UF/IFAS WEST FLORIDA RESEARCH & EDUCATION CENTERBrownfields · 5.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Chumuckla'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 Chumuckla.
Total Sites
89
within ~10 miles of Chumuckla
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Chumuckla
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Chumuckla
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Chumuckla, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Chumuckla — PFAS (3 sites) and Nitrate (30 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Chumuckla
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 Chumuckla average
Your land is one point inside Chumuckla
Everything above resolves to Chumuckla as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 13K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Santa Rosa 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 Chumuckla Average
Chumuckla Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Chumuckla
- ●One soil character for all of Chumuckla
- ●Frost dates read at Chumuckla's scale: Feb 10 to Dec 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Chumuckla's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Chumuckla
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Chumuckla, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Chumuckla averages can't show:
We read public map data around Chumuckla — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Chumuckla average
How we know this about Chumuckla
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 Santa Rosa 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 Chumuckla
When does frost risk typically end in Chumuckla?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Chumuckla typically lands around Feb 10, 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 Mar 3.
When is the first frost in Chumuckla?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Chumuckla typically arrives around Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 22, so the watching starts about Nov 6 — about 299 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Chumuckla?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Chumuckla sees about 299 frost-free days — roughly Feb 10 through Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 3 to Nov 22, about 264 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Chumuckla?
The federal record around Chumuckla is a meaningful one — 89 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (43), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.1 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 Chumuckla?
From about Nov 6 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 6 (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 6. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Chumuckla's scale — its 8b band and its 299-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Chumuckla'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 Chumuckla’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Chumuckla's own scale — the 12,952 acres it covers and 89 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Chumuckla's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 89 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Chumuckla, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Chumuckla's boundary and the 12,952 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- The ecoregion at Chumuckla's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Chumuckla has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Santa Rosa County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Chumuckla's 12,952 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Santa Rosa 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 Santa Rosa 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 Santa Rosa County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Chumuckla's 12,952 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Chumuckla you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 12,952 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.1 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 Chumuckla-wide figureread your own land →