Mount Dora, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Growers here do well with okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Mount Dora, 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 Mount Dora 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 Mount Dora — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Mount Dora — the short answer
Mount Dora, Florida: USDA zone 9b, about 328 days between hard freezes, across 6K 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
- 6K 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 Mount Dora's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Mount Dora's 328-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Mount Dora
Each reading below is measured for Mount Dora itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMount Dora runs about 328 days between hard freezes (read from Lake County, the closest normal to Mount Dora) — 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
MeasuredMount Dora 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 Mount Dora is in
Mount Dora sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Mount Dora's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lake County.
What Grows in Mount Dora
Every plant below cleared Mount Dora'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 Mount Dora?
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 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. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.
What's on the federal record near Mount Dora
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Mount Dora. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MT DORA MIDDLE SCHOOLBrownfields · 1800 ft
- 7-ELEVEN FOOD STORE #33068Underground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- RACETRAC #181Underground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- MOUNT DORA CITY-GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- MOUNT DORA, CITY OFBrownfields · 2400 ft
- MOUNT DORA PEDIATRICSBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- MT DORA HIGH SCHOOLBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- LIL SAMMYS FOOD MART-CITGOUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- MOUNT DORA TEXACO FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- CITGO MOUNT DORAUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- MT DORA MARINA CO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- WALGREENS STORE #2928Brownfields · 1.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Mount Dora'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 Mount Dora.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Mount Dora
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Mount Dora
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •TRI facilities report what they release. Check the wind — downwind beds catch more of it.
Check your specific parcel in Mount Dora
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 Mount Dora average
Your land is one point inside Mount Dora
Everything above resolves to Mount Dora as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 6K 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 Mount Dora Average
Mount Dora Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Mount Dora
- ●One soil character for all of Mount Dora
- ●Frost dates read at Mount Dora's scale: Jan 26 to Dec 20
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Mount Dora's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Mount Dora
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Mount Dora, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Mount Dora averages can't show:
We read public map data around Mount Dora — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Mount Dora average
How we know this about Mount Dora
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 Mount Dora
When does frost risk typically end in Mount Dora?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Mount Dora 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 Mount Dora?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Mount Dora 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 Mount Dora?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Mount Dora 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 Mount Dora?
The federal record around Mount Dora is a meaningful one — 512 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (300), the nearest Brownfields 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 Mount Dora?
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 Mount Dora's scale — its 9b band and its 328-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Mount Dora'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 Mount Dora’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Mount Dora's own scale — the 5,649 acres it covers and 512 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Mount Dora's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 512 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Mount Dora, the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Mount Dora's boundary and the 5,649 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 Mount Dora's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Mount Dora 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 Mount Dora's 5,649 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 Mount Dora's 5,649 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Mount Dora you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 5,649 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Mount Dora-wide figureread your own land →
More in Florida
Growing region
Nearby growing guides