Odessa, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
These conditions suit okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Odessa, 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 Odessa 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 Odessa — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Odessa — the short answer
Odessa, Florida: USDA zone 9b, about 325 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 27
- Pasco County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 18
- Pasco County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~325
- Pasco County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 Pasco County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Odessa's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Odessa's 325-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Odessa
Each reading below is measured for Odessa itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsOdessa runs about 325 days between hard freezes (read from Pasco County, the closest normal to Odessa) — 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
MeasuredOdessa 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 Odessa is in
Odessa sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Odessa's own centroid rather than borrowed from Pasco County.
What Grows in Odessa
Every plant below cleared Odessa's own zone 9b and its 325-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Odessa?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. 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 27 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 18 — 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 Odessa
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Odessa. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SHELL-SUNCOASTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- CVS PHARMACY #11236Brownfields · 2200 ft
- METTLER TOLEDOToxics Release Inventory · 0.8 mi
- ALLAND PROPERTYBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- AMAZON.COM SERVICES LLC - DTP3Brownfields · 1.2 mi
- CIRCLE K #7688Underground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- PHARMATECH SERVICES INCBrownfields · 1.7 mi
- PRESTO FOOD STORE #57Underground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- ODESSA COMMUNITY CENTER NRSD WELL NEAR ODESSA FLNitrate · 1.7 mi
- ODESSA COMMUNITY CENTER FLRD WELL NEAR ODESSA FLNitrate · 1.7 mi
- UNITED PARCEL SERVICE INCBrownfields · 1.9 mi
- LUTZ-LAKE FERN DEEP NEAR LUTZ FLNitrate · 2.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Odessa'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 Odessa.
Total Sites
1,011
within ~10 miles of Odessa
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Odessa
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Odessa
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Odessa, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 420 sites within ~10 miles of Odessa. 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 Odessa
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 Odessa average
Your land is one point inside Odessa
Everything above resolves to Odessa as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Pasco 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 Odessa Average
Odessa Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Odessa
- ●One soil character for all of Odessa
- ●Frost dates read at Odessa's scale: Jan 27 to Dec 18
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Odessa's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Odessa
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Odessa, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Odessa averages can't show:
We read public map data around Odessa — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Odessa average
How we know this about Odessa
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 Pasco 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 Odessa
When does frost risk typically end in Odessa?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Odessa typically lands around Jan 27, 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 17.
When is the first frost in Odessa?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Odessa typically arrives around Dec 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 4, so the watching starts about Nov 18 — about 325 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Odessa?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Odessa sees about 325 frost-free days — roughly Jan 27 through Dec 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 17 to Dec 4, about 290 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Odessa?
The federal record around Odessa is a meaningful one — 1,011 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (420), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Odessa?
From about Nov 18 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 18 (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 18. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Odessa's scale — its 9b band and its 325-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Odessa'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 Odessa’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Odessa's own scale — the 3,433 acres it covers and 1,011 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Odessa's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 1,011 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Odessa, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Odessa's boundary and the 3,433 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~325-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Odessa's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Odessa has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Pasco County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Odessa's 3,433 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Pasco County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Pasco 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 Pasco County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Odessa's 3,433 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Odessa you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,433 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Odessa-wide figureread your own land →
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