Lake City, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Reliable performers under these conditions include artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Lake City, 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 City 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 City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Lake City — the short answer
Lake City, Florida: USDA zone 9a, about 308 days between hard freezes, across 9K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 4
- Columbia County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 9
- Columbia County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~308
- Columbia County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 9K 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 Columbia County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Lake City's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lake City's 308-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lake City
Each reading below is measured for Lake City itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsLake City runs about 308 days between hard freezes (read from Columbia County, the closest normal to Lake City) — 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 City 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 City is in
Lake City sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Lake City's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Columbia County is mostly Southern Coastal Plain. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Lake City
Every plant below cleared Lake City's own zone 9a and its 308-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Lake City?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 7; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 4 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 9 — 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 Lake City
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lake City. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- N & W CLEANERSBrownfields · 550 ft
- CIRCLE K #0217Underground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- BP-JIM'SUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- CRAPPS CHEVROLET GEO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- LAKE CITY DOT LABORATORYSuperfund · 1100 ft
- BELLSOUTH TEL INC #33460 LKCYFLMAUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- CONTINENTAL FOREST INVESTMENTS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- JOHNS SERVICE CTRUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- FPL LAKE CITY SERVICE CENTERBrownfields · 1400 ft
- CHEVRONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- CHEVRON STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- VANN PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lake City'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 City.
Total Sites
337
within ~10 miles of Lake City
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
8 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Lake City
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lake City
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Lake City, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Lake City — Superfund (8 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (209 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Lake City
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 City average
Your land is one point inside Lake City
Everything above resolves to Lake City as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 9K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Columbia 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 City Average
Lake City Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Lake City
- ●One soil character for all of Lake City
- ●Frost dates read at Lake City's scale: Feb 4 to Dec 9
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lake City's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lake City
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lake City, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lake City averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lake City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lake City average
How we know this about Lake City
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 Columbia 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 City
When does frost risk typically end in Lake City?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lake City typically lands around Feb 4, 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 25.
When is the first frost in Lake City?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lake City typically arrives around Dec 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 25, so the watching starts about Nov 9 — about 308 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lake City?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lake City sees about 308 frost-free days — roughly Feb 4 through Dec 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 25 to Nov 25, about 273 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lake City?
The federal record around Lake City is a meaningful one — 337 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (209), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.1 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 Lake City?
From about Nov 9 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 9 (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 9. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Lake City's scale — its 9a band and its 308-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lake City'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 City’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Lake City's own scale — the 9,155 acres it covers and 337 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lake City's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 337 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lake City, the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lake City's boundary and the 9,155 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~308-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Lake City sits in the Southeastern Plains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Lake City has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Columbia County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Lake City's 9,155 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Columbia County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Columbia 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 Columbia County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Lake City's 9,155 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lake City you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 9,155 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 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 Lake City-wide figureread your own land →
More in Florida
Wider growing context
What grows across FloridaLake City sits outside our named growing regions, so Florida as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides