Lee, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Expect artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Lee, 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 Lee 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 Lee — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Lee — the short answer
Lee, Florida: USDA zone 9a, about 297 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 12
- Madison County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 6
- Madison County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~297
- Madison 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 Madison County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Lee's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lee's 297-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lee
Each reading below is measured for Lee itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsLee runs about 297 days between hard freezes (read from Madison County, the closest normal to Lee) — 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
MeasuredLee 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 Lee is in
Lee sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Lee's own centroid rather than borrowed from Madison County.
What Grows in Lee
Every plant below cleared Lee's own zone 9a and its 297-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Lee?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 15; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 12 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 6 — 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 Lee
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lee. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CHERRY FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- STROUPS GROCERY-FORMERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- MCNICOL REALTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- FL DEPT OF TRANSPORTATION ROWUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- JIMMIE RAGANS PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- ARCHIE'SUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- JIFFY FOOD STORE #317Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- LEE GAME ROOMUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- ANDREWS FARM JULIANUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- WILLIAMS FARMUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- PAYNE GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- MAYO FERTILIZER PLANT-LEEBrownfields · 1.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lee'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 Lee.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Lee
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lee
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Lee, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 131 sites within ~10 miles of Lee. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Lee
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 Lee average
Your land is one point inside Lee
Everything above resolves to Lee as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Madison 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 Lee Average
Lee Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Lee
- ●One soil character for all of Lee
- ●Frost dates read at Lee's scale: Feb 12 to Dec 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lee's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lee
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lee, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lee averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lee — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lee average
How we know this about Lee
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 Madison 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 Lee
When does frost risk typically end in Lee?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lee typically lands around Feb 12, 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 5.
When is the first frost in Lee?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lee typically arrives around Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 22, so the watching starts about Nov 6 — about 297 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lee?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lee sees about 297 frost-free days — roughly Feb 12 through Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 5 to Nov 22, about 262 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lee?
The federal record around Lee is a meaningful one — 213 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (131), 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 Lee?
From about Nov 6 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 6 (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 6. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Lee's scale — its 9a band and its 297-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lee'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 Lee’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Lee's own scale — the 1,559 acres it covers and 213 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lee's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 213 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lee, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lee's boundary and the 1,559 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~297-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Lee's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Lee has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Madison County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Lee's 1,559 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Madison County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Madison 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 Madison County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Lee's 1,559 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lee you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,559 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 Lee-wide figureread your own land →
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