Clarcona, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Among the crops suited to this profile: okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Clarcona, 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 Clarcona 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 Clarcona — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Clarcona — the short answer
Clarcona, Florida: USDA zone 9b, about 335 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 20
- Orange County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 21
- Orange County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~335
- Orange County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town 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 Orange County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Clarcona's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Clarcona's 335-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Clarcona
Each reading below is measured for Clarcona itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsClarcona runs about 335 days between hard freezes (read from Orange County, the closest normal to Clarcona) — 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
MeasuredClarcona 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 Clarcona is in
Clarcona sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Clarcona's own centroid rather than borrowed from Orange County.
What Grows in Clarcona
Every plant below cleared Clarcona's own zone 9b and its 335-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Clarcona?
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 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jan 20 (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. 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 Clarcona
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Clarcona. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ORANGE CNTY APOPKA MAINTENANCEUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- YOGI BEAR JELLYSTONE CAMPGROUNDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- ENVIRONMENTAL PRODUCTS GROUPBrownfields · 2200 ft
- CLARCONA ELEMENTARY WWTFBrownfields · 2300 ft
- C P ENTERPRISES OF APOPKA INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- SUNRISE FOOD MART 173Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- SURF WELL @ W.REGIONAL IN APOPKA,FLNitrate · 0.8 mi
- NWWRF PHIPPS WELL NR APOPKA, FLNitrate · 0.9 mi
- HIPPY'S USED AUTO PARTSBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- HERMANN ENGELMANN GREENHOUSES INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- STERICYCLE-APOPKABrownfields · 1.1 mi
- SUNOCO #441Underground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Clarcona'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 Clarcona.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Clarcona
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Clarcona
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •TRI facilities report what they release. Check the wind — downwind beds catch more of it.
Check your specific parcel in Clarcona
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 Clarcona average
Your land is one point inside Clarcona
Everything above resolves to Clarcona as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Orange 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 Clarcona Average
Clarcona Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Clarcona
- ●One soil character for all of Clarcona
- ●Frost dates read at Clarcona's scale: Jan 20 to Dec 21
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Clarcona's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Clarcona
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Clarcona, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Clarcona averages can't show:
We read public map data around Clarcona — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Clarcona average
How we know this about Clarcona
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 Orange 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 Clarcona
When does frost risk typically end in Clarcona?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Clarcona typically lands around Jan 20, 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 10.
When is the first frost in Clarcona?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Clarcona 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 335 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Clarcona?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Clarcona sees about 335 frost-free days — roughly Jan 20 through Dec 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 10 to Dec 7, about 300 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Clarcona?
The federal record around Clarcona is a meaningful one — 2,203 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (1,287), 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 Clarcona?
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 Clarcona's scale — its 9b band and its 335-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Clarcona'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 Clarcona’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Clarcona's own scale — the 2,657 acres it covers and 2,203 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Clarcona's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 2,203 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Clarcona, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Clarcona's boundary and the 2,657 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~335-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Clarcona's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Clarcona has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Orange County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Clarcona's 2,657 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Orange County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Orange 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 Orange County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Clarcona's 2,657 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Clarcona you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,657 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 Clarcona-wide figureread your own land →
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