Fruitland Park, 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 Fruitland Park, 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 Fruitland Park 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 Fruitland Park — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Fruitland Park — the short answer
Fruitland Park, Florida: USDA zone 9b, about 328 days between hard freezes, across 5K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 26
- Lake County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 20
- Lake County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~328
- Lake County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 5K 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 Lake County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Fruitland Park's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Fruitland Park's 328-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Fruitland Park
Each reading below is measured for Fruitland Park itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsFruitland Park runs about 328 days between hard freezes (read from Lake County, the closest normal to Fruitland Park) — 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
MeasuredFruitland Park 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 Fruitland Park is in
Fruitland Park sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Fruitland Park's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lake County.
What Grows in Fruitland Park
Every plant below cleared Fruitland Park's own zone 9b and its 328-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Fruitland Park?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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 26 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 20 — 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 Fruitland Park
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Fruitland Park. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CENTRAL FL NURSERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- AT&TUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- WALMART NEIGHBORHOOD MARKET #4565Brownfields · 1.4 mi
- COLONY SHELLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- WALMART FUELING STATION #4565Underground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- PUBLIX SUPER MARKET #1155Brownfields · 1.6 mi
- VILLAGE OF PINE RIDGE (CONSEC)PFAS · 1.6 mi
- CSU WTP NO. 1PFAS · 1.6 mi
- FRUITLAND PARK WWTFBrownfields · 1.6 mi
- THE BUDD GROUP INCBrownfields · 1.7 mi
- FRUITLAND PARK CITYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- PENNBROOKE HOMEOWNERS' ASSOCIATION INCBrownfields · 1.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Fruitland Park'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 Fruitland Park.
Total Sites
527
within ~10 miles of Fruitland Park
Risk Level
High
Highest-severity
7 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Fruitland Park
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Fruitland Park
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Fruitland Park, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Fruitland Park — PFAS (14 sites) and Superfund (7 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 Fruitland Park
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 Fruitland Park average
Your land is one point inside Fruitland Park
Everything above resolves to Fruitland Park as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 5K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Lake 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 Fruitland Park Average
Fruitland Park Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Fruitland Park
- ●One soil character for all of Fruitland Park
- ●Frost dates read at Fruitland Park's scale: Jan 26 to Dec 20
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Fruitland Park's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Fruitland Park
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Fruitland Park, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Fruitland Park averages can't show:
We read public map data around Fruitland Park — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Fruitland Park average
How we know this about Fruitland Park
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 Lake 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 Fruitland Park
When does frost risk typically end in Fruitland Park?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Fruitland Park typically lands around Jan 26, 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 16.
When is the first frost in Fruitland Park?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Fruitland Park typically arrives around Dec 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 6, so the watching starts about Nov 20 — about 328 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Fruitland Park?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Fruitland Park sees about 328 frost-free days — roughly Jan 26 through Dec 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 16 to Dec 6, about 293 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Fruitland Park?
The federal record around Fruitland Park runs heavier than most — 527 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (308), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Fruitland Park?
From about Nov 20 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 20 (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 20. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Fruitland Park's scale — its 9b band and its 328-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Fruitland Park'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 Fruitland Park’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Fruitland Park's own scale — the 4,585 acres it covers and 527 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Fruitland Park's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 527 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Fruitland Park, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Fruitland Park's boundary and the 4,585 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~328-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Fruitland Park's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Fruitland Park has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Lake County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Fruitland Park's 4,585 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lake County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lake 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 Lake County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Fruitland Park's 4,585 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Fruitland Park you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,585 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 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 Fruitland Park-wide figureread your own land →
More in Florida
Growing region
Nearby growing guides