Marianna, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Growers here do well with artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Marianna, 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 Marianna 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 Marianna — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Marianna — the short answer
Marianna, Florida: USDA zone 9a, about 302 days between hard freezes, across 12K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 8
- Jackson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 7
- Jackson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~302
- Jackson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 12K 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 Jackson County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Marianna's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Marianna's 302-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Marianna
Each reading below is measured for Marianna itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMarianna runs about 302 days between hard freezes (read from Jackson County, the closest normal to Marianna) — 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
MeasuredMarianna 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 Marianna is in
Marianna sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Marianna's own centroid rather than borrowed from Jackson County.
What Grows in Marianna
Every plant below cleared Marianna's own zone 9a and its 302-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Marianna?
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 11; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 8 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 7 — 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 Marianna
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Marianna. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DEPT OF JUVENILE JUSTICE-A G DOZIER SCHUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- FLORIDA HRS A G DOZIER SCHOOLBrownfields · 1300 ft
- MARIANNA CITY-PUBLIC WRKS FACUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- CITY OF MARIANNA PUBLIC WORKSBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- EXPREZIT! #609Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- FORTERRA PIPE & PRECAST - MARIANNAToxics Release Inventory · 1.0 mi
- FAMILY DOLLAR SERVICES INCBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- E Z SERVE #4226Underground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- BP STATION-BRYANT ENTERPRISESUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- MARIANNA TOYOTABrownfields · 1.4 mi
- CLASSIC COLLISION - MARIANNA 1992Brownfields · 1.4 mi
- ASSOCIATED CONTRACTORS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Marianna'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 Marianna.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Marianna
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Marianna
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Marianna, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Marianna — Superfund (5 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (201 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 Marianna
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 Marianna average
Your land is one point inside Marianna
Everything above resolves to Marianna as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 12K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Jackson 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 Marianna Average
Marianna Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Marianna
- ●One soil character for all of Marianna
- ●Frost dates read at Marianna's scale: Feb 8 to Dec 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Marianna's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Marianna
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Marianna, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Marianna averages can't show:
We read public map data around Marianna — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Marianna average
How we know this about Marianna
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 Jackson 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 Marianna
When does frost risk typically end in Marianna?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Marianna typically lands around Feb 8, 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 1.
When is the first frost in Marianna?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Marianna typically arrives around Dec 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 23, so the watching starts about Nov 7 — about 302 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Marianna?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Marianna sees about 302 frost-free days — roughly Feb 8 through Dec 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 1 to Nov 23, about 267 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Marianna?
The federal record around Marianna is a meaningful one — 315 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (201), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Marianna?
From about Nov 7 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 7 (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 7. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Marianna's scale — its 9a band and its 302-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Marianna'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 Marianna’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Marianna's own scale — the 11,911 acres it covers and 315 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Marianna's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 315 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Marianna, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Marianna's boundary and the 11,911 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~302-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Marianna's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Marianna has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Jackson County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Marianna's 11,911 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Jackson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Jackson 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 Jackson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Marianna's 11,911 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Marianna you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 11,911 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Marianna-wide figureread your own land →
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