Lacoochee, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
On paper, okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Lacoochee, 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 Lacoochee 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 Lacoochee — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Lacoochee — the short answer
Lacoochee, Florida: USDA zone 9b, about 325 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 27
- Pasco County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 18
- Pasco County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~325
- Pasco 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 Pasco County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Lacoochee's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lacoochee's 325-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lacoochee
Each reading below is measured for Lacoochee itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsLacoochee runs about 325 days between hard freezes (read from Pasco County, the closest normal to Lacoochee) — 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
MeasuredLacoochee 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 Lacoochee is in
Lacoochee sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Lacoochee's own centroid rather than borrowed from Pasco County.
What Grows in Lacoochee
Every plant below cleared Lacoochee's own zone 9b and its 325-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Lacoochee?
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 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jan 27 (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. 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 Lacoochee
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lacoochee. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WILLIAMSON PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- GHA LOCK JOINT INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- DELTA MOLD COUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- TADLOCKS AUTO SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- FINA STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- WORMACK PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- THE WESTERN EDGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- GASEL TRANSPORTATION LINES INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- PHOTOGRAPHIC WASTE SOLUTIONS INCBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- MOORE FREIGHT LINES INCBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- CUMBERLAND FARMS #1008Brownfields · 1.2 mi
- DD FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lacoochee'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 Lacoochee.
Total Sites
218
within ~10 miles of Lacoochee
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Lacoochee
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lacoochee
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Lacoochee, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 152 sites within ~10 miles of Lacoochee. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Lacoochee
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 Lacoochee average
Your land is one point inside Lacoochee
Everything above resolves to Lacoochee as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Pasco 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 Lacoochee Average
Lacoochee Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Lacoochee
- ●One soil character for all of Lacoochee
- ●Frost dates read at Lacoochee's scale: Jan 27 to Dec 18
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lacoochee's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lacoochee
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lacoochee, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lacoochee averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lacoochee — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lacoochee average
How we know this about Lacoochee
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 Pasco 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 Lacoochee
When does frost risk typically end in Lacoochee?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lacoochee typically lands around Jan 27, 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 17.
When is the first frost in Lacoochee?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lacoochee 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 325 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lacoochee?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lacoochee sees about 325 frost-free days — roughly Jan 27 through Dec 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 17 to Dec 4, about 290 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lacoochee?
The federal record around Lacoochee is a meaningful one — 218 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (152), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Lacoochee?
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 Lacoochee's scale — its 9b band and its 325-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lacoochee'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 Lacoochee’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Lacoochee's own scale — the 1,827 acres it covers and 218 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lacoochee's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 218 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lacoochee, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lacoochee's boundary and the 1,827 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~325-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Lacoochee's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Lacoochee has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Pasco County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Lacoochee's 1,827 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Pasco County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Pasco 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 Pasco County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Lacoochee's 1,827 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lacoochee you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,827 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Lacoochee-wide figureread your own land →
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