Jasper, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 Jasper, 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 Jasper 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 Jasper — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Jasper — the short answer
Jasper, Florida: USDA zone 9a, about 293 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 15
- Hamilton County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 5
- Hamilton County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~293
- Hamilton County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City 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 Hamilton County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Jasper's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Jasper's 293-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Jasper
Each reading below is measured for Jasper itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsJasper runs about 293 days between hard freezes (read from Hamilton County, the closest normal to Jasper) — 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
MeasuredJasper 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 Jasper is in
Jasper sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Jasper's own centroid rather than borrowed from Hamilton County.
What Grows in Jasper
Every plant below cleared Jasper's own zone 9a and its 293-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Jasper?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 18; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 15 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 5 — 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 Jasper
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Jasper. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FAST TRACK #404Underground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- FL ROCK & TANK LINESUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- BP-ADAMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- S&S #349Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- QUICKWAY FOOD STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- AT&T COMMUNICATIONS-JASPERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- PACKAGING CORP OF AMERICA CRSBrownfields · 1.9 mi
- JASPER WTPPFAS · 2.5 mi
- G&P TRUCKINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- TAYLOR INDUSTRIAL CONSTRUCTIONBrownfields · 3.1 mi
- FAST TRACK FOODS #103Underground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- G W HUNTER INC-JASPER CARD SITEUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Jasper'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 Jasper.
Total Sites
101
within ~10 miles of Jasper
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Jasper
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Jasper
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Jasper, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 64 sites within ~10 miles of Jasper. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around 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 Jasper
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 Jasper average
Your land is one point inside Jasper
Everything above resolves to Jasper as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Hamilton 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 Jasper Average
Jasper Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Jasper
- ●One soil character for all of Jasper
- ●Frost dates read at Jasper's scale: Feb 15 to Dec 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Jasper's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Jasper
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Jasper, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Jasper averages can't show:
We read public map data around Jasper — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Jasper average
How we know this about Jasper
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 Hamilton 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 Jasper
When does frost risk typically end in Jasper?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Jasper typically lands around Feb 15, 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 8.
When is the first frost in Jasper?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Jasper typically arrives around Dec 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 21, so the watching starts about Nov 5 — about 293 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Jasper?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Jasper sees about 293 frost-free days — roughly Feb 15 through Dec 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 8 to Nov 21, about 258 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Jasper?
The federal record around Jasper shows 101 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (64), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Jasper?
From about Nov 5 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 5 (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 5. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Jasper's scale — its 9a band and its 293-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Jasper'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 Jasper’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Jasper's own scale — the 2,751 acres it covers and 101 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Jasper's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 101 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Jasper, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Jasper's boundary and the 2,751 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~293-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Jasper's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Jasper has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Hamilton County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Jasper's 2,751 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hamilton County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hamilton 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 Hamilton County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Jasper's 2,751 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Jasper you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,751 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Jasper-wide figureread your own land →
More in Florida
Wider growing context
What grows across FloridaJasper sits outside our named growing regions, so Florida as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides