Perry, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Reliable performers under these conditions include artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Perry, 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 Perry 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 Perry — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Perry — the short answer
Perry, Florida: USDA zone 9a, about 304 days between hard freezes, across 6K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 7
- Taylor County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 8
- Taylor County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~304
- Taylor 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 Taylor County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Perry's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Perry's 304-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Perry
Each reading below is measured for Perry itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsPerry runs about 304 days between hard freezes (read from Taylor County, the closest normal to Perry) — 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
MeasuredPerry 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 Perry is in
Perry sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Perry's own centroid rather than borrowed from Taylor County.
What Grows in Perry
Every plant below cleared Perry's own zone 9a and its 304-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Perry?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 10; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 7 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 8 — 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 Perry
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Perry. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SUPER STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- TAYLOR CNTY SHERIFFS DEPTUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- CVS PHARMACY #4472Brownfields · 900 ft
- JJ GAS AND GRILL INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- WACO FOOD STORE #1Underground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- RITE-AID CORPUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- DONS RENTALSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- SUPER-PUFFT SNACKS USA, INCBrownfields · 1300 ft
- TRI-CNTY ELECTRIC COOP INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- LIGHTHOUSE FOODSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- MARYLAND ASSEMBLIES INCSuperfund · 1500 ft
- TOMS FOODS INCORPORATEDToxics Release Inventory · 1600 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Perry'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 Perry.
Total Sites
177
within ~10 miles of Perry
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
5 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Perry
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Perry
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Perry, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Perry — Superfund (5 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (117 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 Perry
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 Perry average
Your land is one point inside Perry
Everything above resolves to Perry as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 6K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Taylor 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 Perry Average
Perry Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Perry
- ●One soil character for all of Perry
- ●Frost dates read at Perry's scale: Feb 7 to Dec 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Perry's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Perry
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Perry, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Perry averages can't show:
We read public map data around Perry — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Perry average
How we know this about Perry
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 Taylor 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 Perry
When does frost risk typically end in Perry?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Perry typically lands around Feb 7, 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 28.
When is the first frost in Perry?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Perry typically arrives around Dec 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 24, so the watching starts about Nov 8 — about 304 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Perry?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Perry sees about 304 frost-free days — roughly Feb 7 through Dec 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 28 to Nov 24, about 269 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Perry?
The federal record around Perry is a meaningful one — 177 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (117), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Perry?
From about Nov 8 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 8 (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 8. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Perry's scale — its 9a band and its 304-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Perry'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 Perry’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Perry's own scale — the 5,985 acres it covers and 177 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Perry's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 177 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Perry, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Perry's boundary and the 5,985 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~304-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Perry's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Perry has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Taylor County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Perry's 5,985 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Taylor County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Taylor 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 Taylor County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Perry's 5,985 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Perry you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 5,985 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Perry-wide figureread your own land →
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