Lake Panasoffkee, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
A short list that earns its place here — artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Lake Panasoffkee, 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 Panasoffkee 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 Panasoffkee — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Lake Panasoffkee — the short answer
Lake Panasoffkee, Florida: USDA zone 9a, about 312 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 6
- Sumter County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 15
- Sumter County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~312
- Sumter 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 Sumter County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Lake Panasoffkee's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lake Panasoffkee's 312-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lake Panasoffkee
Each reading below is measured for Lake Panasoffkee itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsLake Panasoffkee runs about 312 days between hard freezes (read from Sumter County, the closest normal to Lake Panasoffkee) — 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 Panasoffkee 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 Panasoffkee is in
Lake Panasoffkee sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Lake Panasoffkee's own centroid rather than borrowed from Sumter County.
What Grows in Lake Panasoffkee
Every plant below cleared Lake Panasoffkee's own zone 9a and its 312-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Lake Panasoffkee?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 9; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 6 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 15 — 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 Panasoffkee
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lake Panasoffkee. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- GIANT FOOD #124Underground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- LA ROCHE R V SALESUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- MERRITT PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- TRACYS PT 5FT SH WELL NR PANACOOCHEE RETREATS FLNitrate · 0.6 mi
- LP-4 120FT FLRD WELL NR PANACOOCHEE RETREATS FLNitrate · 0.7 mi
- LP-4 240FT FLRD WELL NR PANACOOCHEE RETREATS FLNitrate · 0.7 mi
- LP-4 30FT NRSD WELL NR PANACOOCHEE RETREATS FLNitrate · 0.7 mi
- TWO SISTERS COUNTRY STORE #2Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- 84820801 19S22E30 HOWARD KENTNitrate · 1.5 mi
- COLEMAN LANDING 5FT SH WELL NR COLEMAN FLNitrate · 1.5 mi
- CERTIFIED AUTO REPAIRBrownfields · 1.7 mi
- PANA VISTA LODGE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lake Panasoffkee'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 Panasoffkee.
Total Sites
253
within ~10 miles of Lake Panasoffkee
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
11 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Lake Panasoffkee
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lake Panasoffkee
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Lake Panasoffkee, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Lake Panasoffkee — PFAS (3 sites) and Nitrate (66 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Lake Panasoffkee
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 Panasoffkee average
Your land is one point inside Lake Panasoffkee
Everything above resolves to Lake Panasoffkee as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Sumter 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 Panasoffkee Average
Lake Panasoffkee Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Lake Panasoffkee
- ●One soil character for all of Lake Panasoffkee
- ●Frost dates read at Lake Panasoffkee's scale: Feb 6 to Dec 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lake Panasoffkee's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lake Panasoffkee
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lake Panasoffkee, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lake Panasoffkee averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lake Panasoffkee — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lake Panasoffkee average
How we know this about Lake Panasoffkee
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 Sumter 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 Panasoffkee
When does frost risk typically end in Lake Panasoffkee?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lake Panasoffkee typically lands around Feb 6, 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 27.
When is the first frost in Lake Panasoffkee?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lake Panasoffkee typically arrives around Dec 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 1, so the watching starts about Nov 15 — about 312 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lake Panasoffkee?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lake Panasoffkee sees about 312 frost-free days — roughly Feb 6 through Dec 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 27 to Dec 1, about 277 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lake Panasoffkee?
The federal record around Lake Panasoffkee is a meaningful one — 253 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (115), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Panasoffkee?
From about Nov 15 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 15 (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 15. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Lake Panasoffkee's scale — its 9a band and its 312-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lake Panasoffkee'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 Panasoffkee’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Lake Panasoffkee's own scale — the 2,752 acres it covers and 253 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lake Panasoffkee's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 253 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lake Panasoffkee, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lake Panasoffkee's boundary and the 2,752 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~312-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Lake Panasoffkee's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Lake Panasoffkee has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Sumter County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Lake Panasoffkee's 2,752 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Sumter County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Sumter 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 Sumter County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Lake Panasoffkee's 2,752 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lake Panasoffkee you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,752 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Panasoffkee-wide figureread your own land →
More in Florida
Wider growing context
What grows across FloridaLake Panasoffkee sits outside our named growing regions, so Florida as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides