Mascotte, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
A short list that earns its place here — okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Mascotte, 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 Mascotte 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 Mascotte — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Mascotte — the short answer
Mascotte, Florida: USDA zone 9b, about 328 days between hard freezes, across 8K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 26
- Lake County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 20
- Lake County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~328
- Lake County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 8K 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 Lake County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Mascotte's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Mascotte's 328-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Mascotte
Each reading below is measured for Mascotte itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMascotte runs about 328 days between hard freezes (read from Lake County, the closest normal to Mascotte) — 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
MeasuredMascotte 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 Mascotte is in
Mascotte sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Mascotte's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lake County.
What Grows in Mascotte
Every plant below cleared Mascotte's own zone 9b and its 328-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Mascotte?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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 26 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 20 — 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 Mascotte
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Mascotte. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MASCOTTE WATER DEPARTMENTPFAS · 25 ft
- FRANCES L DANCE ESTATEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- HI-ACRES SERVICES-TUSCANOOGA BARNUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- RTC AUTO PARTSBrownfields · 1.8 mi
- AUTOBODY WORKS BY DANNYBrownfields · 1.8 mi
- MASCOTTE CITY-KNIGHT ST WTPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- UNITED 500 #509Underground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- CROSS COUNTRY STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- CIRCLE K #2726298Underground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- SMASH CUSTOMSBrownfields · 2.7 mi
- TOYOTA OF CENTRAL FLUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
- TOOLE & WILLIAMS GROVES INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Mascotte'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 Mascotte.
Total Sites
204
within ~10 miles of Mascotte
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Mascotte
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Mascotte
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Mascotte, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Mascotte — Toxics Release Inventory (20 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (128 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Mascotte
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 Mascotte average
Your land is one point inside Mascotte
Everything above resolves to Mascotte as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 8K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Lake 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 Mascotte Average
Mascotte Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Mascotte
- ●One soil character for all of Mascotte
- ●Frost dates read at Mascotte's scale: Jan 26 to Dec 20
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Mascotte's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Mascotte
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Mascotte, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Mascotte averages can't show:
We read public map data around Mascotte — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Mascotte average
How we know this about Mascotte
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 Lake 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 Mascotte
When does frost risk typically end in Mascotte?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Mascotte typically lands around Jan 26, 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 16.
When is the first frost in Mascotte?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Mascotte typically arrives around Dec 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 6, so the watching starts about Nov 20 — about 328 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Mascotte?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Mascotte sees about 328 frost-free days — roughly Jan 26 through Dec 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 16 to Dec 6, about 293 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Mascotte?
The federal record around Mascotte is a meaningful one — 204 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (128), the nearest PFAS record under a tenth of a mile 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 Mascotte?
From about Nov 20 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 20 (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 20. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Mascotte's scale — its 9b band and its 328-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Mascotte'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 Mascotte’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Mascotte's own scale — the 8,244 acres it covers and 204 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Mascotte's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 204 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Mascotte, the closest PFAS record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Mascotte's boundary and the 8,244 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~328-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Mascotte's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Mascotte has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Lake County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Mascotte's 8,244 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lake County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lake 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 Lake County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Mascotte's 8,244 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Mascotte you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 8,244 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest PFAS record under a tenth of a mile 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 Mascotte-wide figureread your own land →
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