La Crosse, 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.
Expect artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in La Crosse, 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 La Crosse 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 La Crosse — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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La Crosse — the short answer
La Crosse, Florida: USDA zone 9a, about 306 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 7
- Alachua County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 10
- Alachua County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~306
- Alachua County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town 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 Alachua County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is La Crosse's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against La Crosse's 306-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in La Crosse
Each reading below is measured for La Crosse itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsLa Crosse runs about 306 days between hard freezes (read from Alachua County, the closest normal to La Crosse) — 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
MeasuredLa Crosse 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 La Crosse is in
La Crosse sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at La Crosse's own centroid rather than borrowed from Alachua County.
What Grows in La Crosse
Every plant below cleared La Crosse's own zone 9a and its 306-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in La Crosse?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 10; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 7 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 10 — 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 La Crosse
Closest first, within ~10 miles of La Crosse. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CIRCLE K #2726058Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- SEABRING MARINE IND INCBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- COLSON MARKUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- JESSE A THOMAS FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- CELLON WELL NR LA CROSSE(A-0053)Nitrate · 2.9 mi
- HOLDER PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- WILLIAMSON PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
- IFAS A1-3Nitrate · 3.5 mi
- IFAS A1-4Nitrate · 3.5 mi
- IFAS A1-2Nitrate · 3.5 mi
- IFAS A1-1Nitrate · 3.5 mi
- GAINSVILLE EMPOWERMENT CTRUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from La Crosse'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 La Crosse.
Total Sites
177
within ~10 miles of La Crosse
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of La Crosse
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of La Crosse
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around La Crosse, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 11 sites within ~10 miles of La Crosse. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in La Crosse
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 La Crosse average
Your land is one point inside La Crosse
Everything above resolves to La Crosse as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Alachua 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 La Crosse Average
La Crosse Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across La Crosse
- ●One soil character for all of La Crosse
- ●Frost dates read at La Crosse's scale: Feb 7 to Dec 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not La Crosse's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in La Crosse
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in La Crosse, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that La Crosse averages can't show:
We read public map data around La Crosse — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the La Crosse average
How we know this about La Crosse
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 Alachua 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 La Crosse
When does frost risk typically end in La Crosse?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in La Crosse typically lands around Feb 7, 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 28.
When is the first frost in La Crosse?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in La Crosse typically arrives around Dec 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 26, so the watching starts about Nov 10 — about 306 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in La Crosse?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, La Crosse sees about 306 frost-free days — roughly Feb 7 through Dec 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 28 to Nov 26, about 271 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in La Crosse?
The federal record around La Crosse is a meaningful one — 177 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (83), 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 La Crosse?
From about Nov 10 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 10 (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 10. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at La Crosse's scale — its 9a band and its 306-day season. Your yard writes its own version of La Crosse'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 La Crosse’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at La Crosse's own scale — the 2,963 acres it covers and 177 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- La Crosse's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 177 documented contamination sites on the federal record near La Crosse, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- La Crosse's boundary and the 2,963 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~306-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at La Crosse's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — La Crosse has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Alachua County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so La Crosse's 2,963 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Alachua County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Alachua 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 Alachua County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among La Crosse's 2,963 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of La Crosse you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,963 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 La Crosse-wide figureread your own land →
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