Lake Lorraine, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
The conditions favor artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Lake Lorraine, 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 Lorraine 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 Lorraine — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Lake Lorraine — the short answer
Lake Lorraine, Florida: USDA zone 9a, about 289 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 16
- Okaloosa County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 2
- Okaloosa County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~289
- Okaloosa County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 Okaloosa County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Lake Lorraine's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lake Lorraine's 289-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lake Lorraine
Each reading below is measured for Lake Lorraine itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsLake Lorraine runs about 289 days between hard freezes (read from Okaloosa County, the closest normal to Lake Lorraine) — 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 Lorraine 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 Lorraine is in
Lake Lorraine sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Lake Lorraine's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Okaloosa County is mostly Southeastern Plains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Lake Lorraine
Every plant below cleared Lake Lorraine's own zone 9a and its 289-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Lake Lorraine?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 19; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 16 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 2 — 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 Lorraine
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lake Lorraine. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- OKALOOSA CO.WTR.; SWR.SYSTEMPFAS · 0.6 mi
- SHALIMAR CENTRAL OFFUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- SHALIMAR POINTE GOLF COURSEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- GULF COAST PROPERTIES #107 LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- FOOD MAXUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- FORMER EXPREZIT! #752Underground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- OKALOOSA CNTY-EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- OKALOOSA CNTY SHERIFFS DEPTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- OKALOOSA CNTY-DEPT OF BUILDINGSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- OKALOOSA CNTY-SHALIMAR COURTHSE ANNEXUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- TOM THUMB FOOD STORE #157Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- SHALIMAR YACHT BASINBrownfields · 1.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lake Lorraine'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 Lorraine.
Total Sites
565
within ~10 miles of Lake Lorraine
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
8 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Lake Lorraine
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lake Lorraine
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Lake Lorraine, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Lake Lorraine — PFAS (10 sites) and Superfund (8 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Lake Lorraine
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 Lorraine average
Your land is one point inside Lake Lorraine
Everything above resolves to Lake Lorraine as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Okaloosa 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 Lake Lorraine Average
Lake Lorraine Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Lake Lorraine
- ●One soil character for all of Lake Lorraine
- ●Frost dates read at Lake Lorraine's scale: Feb 16 to Dec 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lake Lorraine's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lake Lorraine
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lake Lorraine, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lake Lorraine averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lake Lorraine — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lake Lorraine average
How we know this about Lake Lorraine
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 Okaloosa 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 Lake Lorraine
When does frost risk typically end in Lake Lorraine?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lake Lorraine typically lands around Feb 16, 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 9.
When is the first frost in Lake Lorraine?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lake Lorraine typically arrives around Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 18, so the watching starts about Nov 2 — about 289 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lake Lorraine?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lake Lorraine sees about 289 frost-free days — roughly Feb 16 through Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 9 to Nov 18, about 254 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lake Lorraine?
The federal record around Lake Lorraine is a meaningful one — 565 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (272), the nearest PFAS 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 Lake Lorraine?
From about Nov 2 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 2 (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 2. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Lake Lorraine's scale — its 9a band and its 289-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lake Lorraine'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 Lorraine’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Lake Lorraine's own scale — the 1,318 acres it covers and 565 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lake Lorraine's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 565 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lake Lorraine, the closest PFAS record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lake Lorraine's boundary and the 1,318 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~289-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Lake Lorraine sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Lake Lorraine has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Okaloosa County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Lake Lorraine's 1,318 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Okaloosa County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Okaloosa 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 Okaloosa County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Lake Lorraine's 1,318 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lake Lorraine you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,318 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest PFAS 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 Lake Lorraine-wide figureread your own land →