Jennings, 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.
Well-matched crops include artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Jennings, 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 Jennings 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 Jennings — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Jennings — the short answer
Jennings, Florida: USDA zone 9a, about 293 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- 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
- 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 Hamilton County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Jennings's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Jennings's 293-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Jennings
Each reading below is measured for Jennings itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsJennings runs about 293 days between hard freezes (read from Hamilton County, the closest normal to Jennings) — 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
MeasuredJennings 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 Jennings is in
Jennings sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Jennings's own centroid rather than borrowed from Hamilton County.
What Grows in Jennings
Every plant below cleared Jennings'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 Jennings?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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. 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 Jennings
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Jennings. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HILL GRAIN & FERTILIZERUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- CHEVRON #47492Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- HAMILTON CNTY SCHOOL BD-N HAMILTON ELEMUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- S&S #331Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- J&J FOODSTORE LLC -PITTMANS CHEVRONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- GULF JENNINGSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- FAST TRACK #402Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- GARY CONE FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- DIVISION OF FORESTRY-ALAPAHA SITEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- JOHNSON & JOHNSON #9Underground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- JENNINGS OUTDOOR RESORT INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- SHELL-JENNING'SUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Jennings'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 Jennings.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Jennings
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Jennings
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Jennings, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Jennings — Nitrate (28 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (64 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Jennings
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 Jennings average
Your land is one point inside Jennings
Everything above resolves to Jennings as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Hamilton 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 Jennings Average
Jennings Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Jennings
- ●One soil character for all of Jennings
- ●Frost dates read at Jennings's scale: Feb 15 to Dec 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Jennings's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Jennings
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Jennings, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Jennings averages can't show:
We read public map data around Jennings — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Jennings average
How we know this about Jennings
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 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 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 Jennings
When does frost risk typically end in Jennings?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Jennings 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 Jennings?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Jennings 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 Jennings?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Jennings 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 Jennings?
The federal record around Jennings shows 97 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (64), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 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 Jennings?
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 Jennings's scale — its 9a band and its 293-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Jennings'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 Jennings’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Jennings's own scale — the 1,702 acres it covers and 97 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Jennings's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 97 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Jennings, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Jennings's boundary and the 1,702 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 Jennings's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Jennings 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 Jennings's 1,702 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 Jennings's 1,702 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Jennings you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,702 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 Jennings-wide figureread your own land →
More in Florida
Wider growing context
What grows across FloridaJennings sits outside our named growing regions, so Florida as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides