Coleman, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
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 Coleman, 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 Coleman 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 Coleman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Coleman — the short answer
Coleman, Florida: USDA zone 9b, about 312 days between hard freezes, across 1K 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
- 1K 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 Coleman's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Coleman's 312-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Coleman
Each reading below is measured for Coleman itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsColeman runs about 312 days between hard freezes (read from Sumter County, the closest normal to Coleman) — 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
MeasuredColeman 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 Coleman is in
Coleman sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Coleman's own centroid rather than borrowed from Sumter County.
What Grows in Coleman
Every plant below cleared Coleman'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 Coleman?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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. 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 Coleman
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Coleman. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MONTGOMERY TRUCK LINES - PATCO TRANSPORTBrownfields · 550 ft
- MONTGOMERY BULK IIBrownfields · 550 ft
- COLEMAN CONVENIENCE LLCBrownfields · 1100 ft
- SHELL-COLEMANUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- KATHRYN CHILDERSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- PERRY WILLIAMS PROPERTYBrownfields · 1900 ft
- HIGHWAY SYSTEMS INCORPORATEDToxics Release Inventory · 1.0 mi
- LP-6 154FT FLRD WELL NR COLEMAN FLNitrate · 1.5 mi
- LP-6 25FT NRSD WELL NR COLEMAN FLNitrate · 1.5 mi
- DAVIS GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- BS AUTO SALVAGE LLCBrownfields · 1.7 mi
- COLEMAN LANDING 5FT SH WELL NR COLEMAN FLNitrate · 2.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Coleman'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 Coleman.
Total Sites
261
within ~10 miles of Coleman
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
4 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Coleman
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Coleman
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Coleman, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Coleman — PFAS (7 sites) and Superfund (4 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Coleman
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 Coleman average
Your land is one point inside Coleman
Everything above resolves to Coleman as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K 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 Coleman Average
Coleman Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Coleman
- ●One soil character for all of Coleman
- ●Frost dates read at Coleman's scale: Feb 6 to Dec 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Coleman's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Coleman
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Coleman, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Coleman averages can't show:
We read public map data around Coleman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Coleman average
How we know this about Coleman
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 Coleman
When does frost risk typically end in Coleman?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Coleman 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 Coleman?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Coleman 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 Coleman?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Coleman 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 Coleman?
The federal record around Coleman is a meaningful one — 261 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (106), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.1 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 Coleman?
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 Coleman's scale — its 9b band and its 312-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Coleman'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 Coleman’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Coleman's own scale — the 1,436 acres it covers and 261 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Coleman's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 261 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Coleman, the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Coleman's boundary and the 1,436 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 Coleman's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Coleman 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 Coleman's 1,436 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 Coleman's 1,436 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Coleman you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,436 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 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 Coleman-wide figureread your own land →
More in Florida
Wider growing context
What grows across FloridaColeman sits outside our named growing regions, so Florida as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides