Homosassa, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
A short list that earns its place here — okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Homosassa, 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 Homosassa 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 Homosassa — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Homosassa — the short answer
Homosassa, Florida: USDA zone 9b, about 312 days between hard freezes, across 5K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 4
- Citrus County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 13
- Citrus County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~312
- Citrus County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town 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 Citrus County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Homosassa's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Homosassa's 312-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Homosassa
Each reading below is measured for Homosassa itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsHomosassa runs about 312 days between hard freezes (read from Citrus County, the closest normal to Homosassa) — 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
MeasuredHomosassa 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 Homosassa is in
Homosassa sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Homosassa's own centroid rather than borrowed from Citrus County.
What Grows in Homosassa
Every plant below cleared Homosassa's own zone 9b and its 312-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Homosassa?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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 13 — 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 Homosassa
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Homosassa. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FORMER CHUCK WILBURN PROPERTY - TARLAND LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- TRADEWINDS FISHING RESORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- HOMOSASSA SPRINGS MARINAUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- MAGIC MANATEE MARINABrownfields · 0.5 mi
- HOMOSASSA RIVERSIDE RESORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- HUTCHINSON PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- CITRUS CNTY SCHOOL BD-HOMOSASSA ESUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- YARDARM SPORTCENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- RIVERSIDE VILLASUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- MACRAE'S OF HOMOSASSA INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- VESLEY PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- QUICK SAVE DISCOUNT BEVERAGES IN SUNNY DAY PLAZAUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Homosassa'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 Homosassa.
Total Sites
206
within ~10 miles of Homosassa
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Homosassa
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Homosassa
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Homosassa, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Homosassa — PFAS (3 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (128 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Homosassa
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 Homosassa average
Your land is one point inside Homosassa
Everything above resolves to Homosassa as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 5K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Citrus 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 Homosassa Average
Homosassa Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Homosassa
- ●One soil character for all of Homosassa
- ●Frost dates read at Homosassa's scale: Feb 4 to Dec 13
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Homosassa's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Homosassa
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Homosassa, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Homosassa averages can't show:
We read public map data around Homosassa — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Homosassa average
How we know this about Homosassa
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 Citrus 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 Homosassa
When does frost risk typically end in Homosassa?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Homosassa 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 Homosassa?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Homosassa typically arrives around Dec 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 29, so the watching starts about Nov 13 — about 312 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Homosassa?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Homosassa sees about 312 frost-free days — roughly Feb 4 through Dec 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 25 to Nov 29, about 277 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Homosassa?
The federal record around Homosassa is a meaningful one — 206 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (128), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Homosassa?
From about Nov 13 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 13 (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 13. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Homosassa's scale — its 9b band and its 312-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Homosassa'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 Homosassa’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Homosassa's own scale — the 4,999 acres it covers and 206 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Homosassa's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 206 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Homosassa, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Homosassa's boundary and the 4,999 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~312-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Homosassa's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Homosassa has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Citrus County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Homosassa's 4,999 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Citrus County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Citrus 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 Citrus County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Homosassa's 4,999 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Homosassa you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,999 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Homosassa-wide figureread your own land →
More in Florida
Wider growing context
What grows across FloridaHomosassa sits outside our named growing regions, so Florida as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides