Grand Ridge, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
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 Grand Ridge, 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 Grand Ridge 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 Grand Ridge — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Grand Ridge — the short answer
Grand Ridge, Florida: USDA zone 9a, about 302 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 8
- Jackson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 7
- Jackson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~302
- Jackson 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 Jackson County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Grand Ridge's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Grand Ridge's 302-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Grand Ridge
Each reading below is measured for Grand Ridge itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsGrand Ridge runs about 302 days between hard freezes (read from Jackson County, the closest normal to Grand Ridge) — 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
MeasuredGrand Ridge 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 Grand Ridge is in
Grand Ridge sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Grand Ridge's own centroid rather than borrowed from Jackson County.
What Grows in Grand Ridge
Every plant below cleared Grand Ridge's own zone 9a and its 302-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Grand Ridge?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 11; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 8 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 7 — 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 Grand Ridge
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Grand Ridge. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- KIRKLAND STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- WRIGHTS GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- WRIGHT'S RECYCLING INCBrownfields · 1400 ft
- JACKSON CNTY SCHOOL BD-GRAND RIDGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- HANDY ANDYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- GRAND RIDGE TOWNUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- DOCK'S AUTO SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- BLONDIES FOOD & FUELUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- PO-BOYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- SPRINT FLORIDA #593Underground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- STEPHENS DOZER WORKSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- AT&TUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Grand Ridge'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 Grand Ridge.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Grand Ridge
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Grand Ridge
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Grand Ridge, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 42 sites within ~10 miles of Grand Ridge. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Grand Ridge
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 Grand Ridge average
Your land is one point inside Grand Ridge
Everything above resolves to Grand Ridge as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Jackson 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 Grand Ridge Average
Grand Ridge Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Grand Ridge
- ●One soil character for all of Grand Ridge
- ●Frost dates read at Grand Ridge's scale: Feb 8 to Dec 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Grand Ridge's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Grand Ridge
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Grand Ridge, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Grand Ridge averages can't show:
We read public map data around Grand Ridge — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Grand Ridge average
How we know this about Grand Ridge
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 Jackson 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 Grand Ridge
When does frost risk typically end in Grand Ridge?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Grand Ridge typically lands around Feb 8, 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 Mar 1.
When is the first frost in Grand Ridge?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Grand Ridge typically arrives around Dec 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 23, so the watching starts about Nov 7 — about 302 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Grand Ridge?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Grand Ridge sees about 302 frost-free days — roughly Feb 8 through Dec 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 1 to Nov 23, about 267 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Grand Ridge?
The federal record around Grand Ridge is a meaningful one — 145 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (84), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Grand Ridge?
From about Nov 7 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 7 (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 7. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Grand Ridge's scale — its 9a band and its 302-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Grand Ridge'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 Grand Ridge’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Grand Ridge's own scale — the 2,783 acres it covers and 145 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Grand Ridge's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 145 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Grand Ridge, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Grand Ridge's boundary and the 2,783 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~302-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Grand Ridge's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Grand Ridge has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Jackson County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Grand Ridge's 2,783 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Jackson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Jackson 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 Jackson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Grand Ridge's 2,783 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Grand Ridge you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,783 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Grand Ridge-wide figureread your own land →
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