Fort White, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Expect artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Fort White, 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 Fort White 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 Fort White — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Fort White — the short answer
Fort White, Florida: USDA zone 9a, about 308 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 4
- Columbia County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 9
- Columbia County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~308
- Columbia County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 Columbia County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Fort White's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Fort White's 308-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Fort White
Each reading below is measured for Fort White itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsFort White runs about 308 days between hard freezes (read from Columbia County, the closest normal to Fort White) — 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
MeasuredFort White 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 Fort White is in
Fort White sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Fort White's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Columbia County is mostly Southern Coastal Plain. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Fort White
Every plant below cleared Fort White's own zone 9a and its 308-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Fort White?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 7; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 4 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 9 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What's on the federal record near Fort White
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Fort White. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- JOHNSON & JOHNSON #39Underground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- CHEVRON-SHOP SMARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- SUWANNEE SWIFTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- BP-FLOYDSUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- FT WHITE GULF BP-JAMES RICHARDSONUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- FT WHITE FRM FEED STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- S&S #315Underground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- JOHNSON & JOHNSON #37 / B & B #7Underground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- G W HUNTER CARD SITEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- DALE S AQUA SHACK AT FT WHITENitrate · 1.8 mi
- ICHETUCKNEE GROCERY & CAMPSITEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- STATE PARK-ICHETUCKNEE SPRINGSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Fort White'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 Fort White.
Total Sites
119
within ~10 miles of Fort White
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Fort White
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Fort White
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in Fort White
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 Fort White average
Your land is one point inside Fort White
Everything above resolves to Fort White as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Columbia 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 Fort White Average
Fort White Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Fort White
- ●One soil character for all of Fort White
- ●Frost dates read at Fort White's scale: Feb 4 to Dec 9
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Fort White's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Fort White
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Fort White, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Fort White averages can't show:
We read public map data around Fort White — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Fort White average
How we know this about Fort White
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 Columbia 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 Fort White
When does frost risk typically end in Fort White?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Fort White typically lands around Feb 4, 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 25.
When is the first frost in Fort White?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Fort White typically arrives around Dec 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 25, so the watching starts about Nov 9 — about 308 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Fort White?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Fort White sees about 308 frost-free days — roughly Feb 4 through Dec 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 25 to Nov 25, about 273 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Fort White?
The federal record around Fort White shows 119 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (63), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Fort White?
From about Nov 9 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 9 (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 9. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Fort White's scale — its 9a band and its 308-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Fort White'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 Fort White’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Fort White's own scale — the 1,638 acres it covers and 119 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Fort White's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 119 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Fort White, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Fort White's boundary and the 1,638 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~308-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Fort White sits in the Southeastern Plains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Fort White has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Columbia County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Fort White's 1,638 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Columbia County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Columbia 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 Columbia County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Fort White's 1,638 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Fort White you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,638 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 Fort White-wide figureread your own land →
More in Florida
Wider growing context
What grows across FloridaFort White sits outside our named growing regions, so Florida as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides