Interlachen, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
On paper, artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Interlachen, 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 Interlachen 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 Interlachen — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Interlachen — the short answer
Interlachen, Florida: USDA zone 9a, about 320 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 1
- Putnam County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 18
- Putnam County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~320
- Putnam County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 4K 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 Putnam County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Interlachen's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Interlachen's 320-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Interlachen
Each reading below is measured for Interlachen itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsInterlachen runs about 320 days between hard freezes (read from Putnam County, the closest normal to Interlachen) — 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
MeasuredInterlachen 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 Interlachen is in
Interlachen sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Interlachen's own centroid rather than borrowed from Putnam County.
What Grows in Interlachen
Every plant below cleared Interlachen's own zone 9a and its 320-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Interlachen?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 1 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 18 — 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 Interlachen
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Interlachen. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HANDY WAY #2233Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- CVS PHARMACY #3663Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- PUTNAM CNTY SCHOOL BD-INTERLACHEN BUSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- MCCAULEYS TAVERNUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- T&K DISCOUNTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- DOLLAR GENERAL #1391Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- T & M HOME FARM CTRUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- FLORIDA ROCK INDUSTRIES INC KEUKA SAND PLANTBrownfields · 2.0 mi
- EDGAR MINERALS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- HANDYWAY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- FAST TRACK FOODS #313Underground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
- FAST TRACK FOODS #325Underground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Interlachen'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 Interlachen.
Total Sites
79
within ~10 miles of Interlachen
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Interlachen
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Interlachen
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 Interlachen
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 Interlachen average
Your land is one point inside Interlachen
Everything above resolves to Interlachen as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 4K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Putnam 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 Interlachen Average
Interlachen Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Interlachen
- ●One soil character for all of Interlachen
- ●Frost dates read at Interlachen's scale: Feb 1 to Dec 18
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Interlachen's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Interlachen
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Interlachen, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Interlachen averages can't show:
We read public map data around Interlachen — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Interlachen average
How we know this about Interlachen
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 Putnam 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 Interlachen
When does frost risk typically end in Interlachen?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Interlachen typically lands around Feb 1, 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 22.
When is the first frost in Interlachen?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Interlachen typically arrives around Dec 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 4, so the watching starts about Nov 18 — about 320 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Interlachen?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Interlachen sees about 320 frost-free days — roughly Feb 1 through Dec 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 22 to Dec 4, about 285 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Interlachen?
The federal record around Interlachen is a meaningful one — 79 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (47), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 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 Interlachen?
From about Nov 18 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 18 (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 18. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Interlachen's scale — its 9a band and its 320-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Interlachen'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 Interlachen’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Interlachen's own scale — the 3,900 acres it covers and 79 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Interlachen's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 79 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Interlachen, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Interlachen's boundary and the 3,900 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~320-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Interlachen's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Interlachen has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Putnam County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Interlachen's 3,900 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Putnam County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Putnam 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 Putnam County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Interlachen's 3,900 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Interlachen you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,900 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 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 Interlachen-wide figureread your own land →
More in Florida
Wider growing context
What grows across FloridaInterlachen sits outside our named growing regions, so Florida as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides