Lake Butler, 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.
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 Lake Butler, 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 Lake Butler 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 Lake Butler — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Lake Butler — the short answer
Lake Butler, Florida: USDA zone 9a, about 307 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 7
- Union County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 11
- Union County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~307
- Union County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City 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 Union County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Lake Butler's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lake Butler's 307-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lake Butler
Each reading below is measured for Lake Butler itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsLake Butler runs about 307 days between hard freezes (read from Union County, the closest normal to Lake Butler) — 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
MeasuredLake Butler 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 Lake Butler is in
Lake Butler sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Lake Butler's own centroid rather than borrowed from Union County.
What Grows in Lake Butler
Every plant below cleared Lake Butler's own zone 9a and its 307-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Lake Butler?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. 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 11 — 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 Lake Butler
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lake Butler. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CIRCLE K #2722432Underground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- LAKE BUTLER WELL NO. 1 AAI4600Nitrate · 850 ft
- WILMAS VARIETY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- FPL LAKE BUTLER SUBSTATIONBrownfields · 1500 ft
- SUNRISE FOOD MART & GAS STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- FL DEPT OF TRANSPORTATION-RAIFORD YARDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- THOMAS PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- CNB NATIONAL BANKUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- UNION 76-JOHNSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- SUNOCO SERVICE STATION #08782492Brownfields · 2100 ft
- UNION COUNTY PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- HITCHING POST LOUNGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lake Butler'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 Lake Butler.
Total Sites
88
within ~10 miles of Lake Butler
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Lake Butler
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lake Butler
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Lake Butler
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 Lake Butler average
Your land is one point inside Lake Butler
Everything above resolves to Lake Butler as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Union 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 Lake Butler Average
Lake Butler Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Lake Butler
- ●One soil character for all of Lake Butler
- ●Frost dates read at Lake Butler's scale: Feb 7 to Dec 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lake Butler's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lake Butler
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lake Butler, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lake Butler averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lake Butler — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lake Butler average
How we know this about Lake Butler
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 Union 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 Lake Butler
When does frost risk typically end in Lake Butler?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lake Butler 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 Lake Butler?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lake Butler typically arrives around Dec 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 27, so the watching starts about Nov 11 — about 307 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lake Butler?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lake Butler sees about 307 frost-free days — roughly Feb 7 through Dec 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 28 to Nov 27, about 272 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lake Butler?
The federal record around Lake Butler shows 88 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (51), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Lake Butler?
From about Nov 11 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 11 (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 11. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Lake Butler's scale — its 9a band and its 307-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lake Butler'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 Lake Butler’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Lake Butler's own scale — the 1,509 acres it covers and 88 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lake Butler's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 88 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lake Butler, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lake Butler's boundary and the 1,509 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~307-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Lake Butler's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Lake Butler has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Union County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Lake Butler's 1,509 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Union County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Union 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 Union County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Lake Butler's 1,509 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lake Butler you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,509 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Lake Butler-wide figureread your own land →
More in Florida
Wider growing context
What grows across FloridaLake Butler sits outside our named growing regions, so Florida as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides