Dunnellon, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
The conditions favor artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Dunnellon, 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 Dunnellon 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 Dunnellon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Dunnellon — the short answer
Dunnellon, Florida: USDA zone 9a, about 314 days between hard freezes, across 6K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 3
- Marion County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 14
- Marion County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~314
- Marion County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 6K 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 Marion County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Dunnellon's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Dunnellon's 314-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Dunnellon
Each reading below is measured for Dunnellon itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsDunnellon runs about 314 days between hard freezes (read from Marion County, the closest normal to Dunnellon) — 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
MeasuredDunnellon 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 Dunnellon is in
Dunnellon sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Dunnellon's own centroid rather than borrowed from Marion County.
What Grows in Dunnellon
Every plant below cleared Dunnellon's own zone 9a and its 314-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Dunnellon?
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 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 14 — 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 Dunnellon
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Dunnellon. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 90322501USGS OBSER WELL CE 14 NEAR DUNNELLON, FLNitrate · 0.6 mi
- 90222501 16S19E31 CE 75 U S GEOL SURVEYNitrate · 1.3 mi
- 90422501 16S19E20 CE 13 U S GEOL SURVEYNitrate · 1.5 mi
- GOETHE PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- MURPHY USA #6820Underground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- CEMEX - DUNNELLON READY-MIX PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- PUBLIX SUPER MARKET #1616Brownfields · 1.8 mi
- O'REILLY AUTO PARTS #4912Brownfields · 1.8 mi
- CEMEX CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS FLORIDA LLCToxics Release Inventory · 1.8 mi
- SHYAM GAS & FOODUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- CVS PHARMACY #3539Brownfields · 1.9 mi
- DHAKA PROPERTIES LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Dunnellon'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 Dunnellon.
Total Sites
149
within ~10 miles of Dunnellon
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Dunnellon
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Dunnellon
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Dunnellon, PFAS runs higher than the national average — 6 sites within ~10 miles of Dunnellon. 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.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Dunnellon
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 Dunnellon average
Your land is one point inside Dunnellon
Everything above resolves to Dunnellon as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 6K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Marion 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 Dunnellon Average
Dunnellon Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Dunnellon
- ●One soil character for all of Dunnellon
- ●Frost dates read at Dunnellon's scale: Feb 3 to Dec 14
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Dunnellon's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Dunnellon
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Dunnellon, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Dunnellon averages can't show:
We read public map data around Dunnellon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Dunnellon average
How we know this about Dunnellon
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 Marion 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 Dunnellon
When does frost risk typically end in Dunnellon?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Dunnellon 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 Dunnellon?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Dunnellon typically arrives around Dec 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 30, so the watching starts about Nov 14 — about 314 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Dunnellon?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Dunnellon sees about 314 frost-free days — roughly Feb 3 through Dec 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 24 to Nov 30, about 279 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Dunnellon?
The federal record around Dunnellon is a meaningful one — 149 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (80), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.6 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 Dunnellon?
From about Nov 14 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 14 (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 14. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Dunnellon's scale — its 9a band and its 314-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Dunnellon'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 Dunnellon’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Dunnellon's own scale — the 5,642 acres it covers and 149 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Dunnellon's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 149 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Dunnellon, the closest Nitrate record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Dunnellon's boundary and the 5,642 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~314-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Dunnellon's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Dunnellon has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Marion County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Dunnellon's 5,642 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Marion County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Marion 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 Marion County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Dunnellon's 5,642 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Dunnellon you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 5,642 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.6 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 Dunnellon-wide figureread your own land →