Limestone, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Expect okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Limestone, 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 Limestone 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 Limestone — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Limestone — the short answer
Limestone, Florida: USDA zone 9b, about 331 days between hard freezes, across 15K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 19
- Hardee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 16
- Hardee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~331
- Hardee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 15K 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 Hardee County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Limestone's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Limestone's 331-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Limestone
Each reading below is measured for Limestone itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsLimestone runs about 331 days between hard freezes (read from Hardee County, the closest normal to Limestone) — 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
MeasuredLimestone sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b.
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 Limestone is in
Limestone sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Limestone's own centroid rather than borrowed from Hardee County.
What Grows in Limestone
Every plant below cleared Limestone's own zone 9b and its 331-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Limestone?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jan 19 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 16 — 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 Limestone
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Limestone. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- EL MERCADO STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- LIMESTONE GROCERY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- UNIV OF FL-ONA ARECUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IFAS ARECBrownfields · 2.9 mi
- LILY GROVEUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- CARLTON SURFICIAL WELL NEAR KINSEY FLNitrate · 5.0 mi
- ROY CREWSUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.0 mi
- BRUSHY CREEK SURFICIAL WELL NEAR ONA FLNitrate · 6.1 mi
- BETHEL FARMS-SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.2 mi
- SUPERIOR EGG FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.2 mi
- ERWIN & BERNITA FRANZELUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.4 mi
- J.K. BURTSCHER IRRIGATION WELL NEAR ARCADIA FLNitrate · 6.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Limestone'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 Limestone.
Total Sites
78
within ~10 miles of Limestone
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
4 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Limestone
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Limestone
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Limestone, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 28 sites within ~10 miles of Limestone. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Limestone
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 Limestone average
Your land is one point inside Limestone
Everything above resolves to Limestone as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 15K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Hardee 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 Limestone Average
Limestone Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Limestone
- ●One soil character for all of Limestone
- ●Frost dates read at Limestone's scale: Jan 19 to Dec 16
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Limestone's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Limestone
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Limestone, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Limestone averages can't show:
We read public map data around Limestone — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Limestone average
How we know this about Limestone
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 Hardee 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 Limestone
When does frost risk typically end in Limestone?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Limestone typically lands around Jan 19, 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 9.
When is the first frost in Limestone?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Limestone typically arrives around Dec 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 2, so the watching starts about Nov 16 — about 331 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Limestone?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Limestone sees about 331 frost-free days — roughly Jan 19 through Dec 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 9 to Dec 2, about 296 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Limestone?
The federal record around Limestone shows 78 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (36), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles 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 Limestone?
From about Nov 16 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 16 (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 16. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Limestone's scale — its 9b band and its 331-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Limestone'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 Limestone’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Limestone's own scale — the 15,209 acres it covers and 78 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Limestone's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 78 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Limestone, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Limestone's boundary and the 15,209 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~331-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Limestone's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Limestone has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Hardee County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Limestone's 15,209 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hardee County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hardee 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 Hardee County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Limestone's 15,209 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Limestone you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 15,209 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 Limestone-wide figureread your own land →
More in Florida
Wider growing context
What grows across FloridaLimestone sits outside our named growing regions, so Florida as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides