North Brooksville, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
On paper, okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in North Brooksville, 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 North Brooksville 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 North Brooksville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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North Brooksville — the short answer
North Brooksville, Florida: USDA zone 9b, about 321 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 2
- Hernando County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 20
- Hernando County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~321
- Hernando County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 4K 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 Hernando County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is North Brooksville's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against North Brooksville's 321-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in North Brooksville
Each reading below is measured for North Brooksville itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsNorth Brooksville runs about 321 days between hard freezes (read from Hernando County, the closest normal to North Brooksville) — 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
MeasuredNorth Brooksville 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 North Brooksville is in
North Brooksville sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at North Brooksville's own centroid rather than borrowed from Hernando County.
What Grows in North Brooksville
Every plant below cleared North Brooksville's own zone 9b and its 321-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in North Brooksville?
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 5; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 2 (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. 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 North Brooksville
Closest first, within ~10 miles of North Brooksville. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ELLWOOD WEBBUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- SMITH & SON DAIRY INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- MCDONALD MINEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- BP-RANDYS HILLTOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- SEE 8733605Underground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- BISHOP'S WELL DRILLING INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- PEPSI-COLA BOTTLING CO OF TAMPAUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- HERNANDO CNTY-COURTHOUSEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- BROOKSVILLE CITY OFPFAS · 2.5 mi
- COUNTRY EXPRESS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- SUNSHINE MATERIALS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- WESCO #23-41Underground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from North Brooksville'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 North Brooksville.
Total Sites
273
within ~10 miles of North Brooksville
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
14 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of North Brooksville
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of North Brooksville
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around North Brooksville, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 172 sites within ~10 miles of North Brooksville. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
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 North Brooksville
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 North Brooksville average
Your land is one point inside North Brooksville
Everything above resolves to North Brooksville as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 4K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Hernando 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 North Brooksville Average
North Brooksville Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across North Brooksville
- ●One soil character for all of North Brooksville
- ●Frost dates read at North Brooksville's scale: Feb 2 to Dec 20
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not North Brooksville's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in North Brooksville
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in North Brooksville, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that North Brooksville averages can't show:
We read public map data around North Brooksville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the North Brooksville average
How we know this about North Brooksville
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 Hernando 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 North Brooksville
When does frost risk typically end in North Brooksville?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in North Brooksville typically lands around Feb 2, 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 23.
When is the first frost in North Brooksville?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in North Brooksville 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 321 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in North Brooksville?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, North Brooksville sees about 321 frost-free days — roughly Feb 2 through Dec 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 23 to Dec 6, about 286 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in North Brooksville?
The federal record around North Brooksville is a meaningful one — 273 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (172), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.1 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 North Brooksville?
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 North Brooksville's scale — its 9b band and its 321-day season. Your yard writes its own version of North Brooksville'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 North Brooksville’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at North Brooksville's own scale — the 4,173 acres it covers and 273 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- North Brooksville's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 273 documented contamination sites on the federal record near North Brooksville, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- North Brooksville's boundary and the 4,173 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~321-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at North Brooksville's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — North Brooksville has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Hernando County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so North Brooksville's 4,173 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hernando County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hernando 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 Hernando County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among North Brooksville's 4,173 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of North Brooksville you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,173 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.1 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 North Brooksville-wide figureread your own land →
More in Florida
Wider growing context
What grows across FloridaNorth Brooksville sits outside our named growing regions, so Florida as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides