Havana, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Growers here do well with artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Havana, 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 Havana 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 Havana — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Havana — the short answer
Havana, Florida: USDA zone 9a, about 299 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 11
- Gadsden County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 7
- Gadsden County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~299
- Gadsden 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 Gadsden County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Havana's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Havana's 299-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Havana
Each reading below is measured for Havana itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsHavana runs about 299 days between hard freezes (read from Gadsden County, the closest normal to Havana) — 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
MeasuredHavana 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 Havana is in
Havana sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Havana's own centroid rather than borrowed from Gadsden County.
What Grows in Havana
Every plant below cleared Havana's own zone 9a and its 299-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Havana?
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 14; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 11 (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 Havana
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Havana. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- E Z SERVE #4048Underground Storage Tanks · 250 ft
- EXXON-KELLYUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- JACK ROBINSONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- DUTTON AUTO PARTSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- AMISH COUNTRY OAK FURNITUREUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- DAVE FLURY CHEVROLETUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- CAL T ALBRITTON INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- WINN-DIXIE #1631Brownfields · 2300 ft
- BELLSOUTH TEL INC #31543 HAVNFLMAUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- HAVANA SHELLUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- MARTINS STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- FLINT RIVER MILLSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Havana'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 Havana.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Havana
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Havana
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Havana, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 115 sites within ~10 miles of Havana. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Havana
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 Havana average
Your land is one point inside Havana
Everything above resolves to Havana as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Gadsden 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 Havana Average
Havana Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Havana
- ●One soil character for all of Havana
- ●Frost dates read at Havana's scale: Feb 11 to Dec 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Havana's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Havana
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Havana, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Havana averages can't show:
We read public map data around Havana — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Havana average
How we know this about Havana
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 Gadsden 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 Havana
When does frost risk typically end in Havana?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Havana typically lands around Feb 11, 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 4.
When is the first frost in Havana?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Havana 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 299 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Havana?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Havana sees about 299 frost-free days — roughly Feb 11 through Dec 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 4 to Nov 23, about 264 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Havana?
The federal record around Havana is a meaningful one — 168 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (115), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Havana?
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 Havana's scale — its 9a band and its 299-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Havana'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 Havana’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Havana's own scale — the 1,783 acres it covers and 168 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Havana's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 168 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Havana, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Havana's boundary and the 1,783 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~299-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Havana's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Havana has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Gadsden County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Havana's 1,783 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Gadsden County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Gadsden 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 Gadsden County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Havana's 1,783 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Havana you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,783 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 Havana-wide figureread your own land →
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