Raleigh, 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.
Expect artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Raleigh, 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 Raleigh 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 Raleigh — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Raleigh — the short answer
Raleigh, Florida: USDA zone 9a, about 310 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 3
- Levy County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 10
- Levy County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~310
- Levy County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 Levy County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Raleigh's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Raleigh's 310-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Raleigh
Each reading below is measured for Raleigh itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsRaleigh runs about 310 days between hard freezes (read from Levy County, the closest normal to Raleigh) — 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
MeasuredRaleigh 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 Raleigh is in
Raleigh sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Raleigh's own centroid rather than borrowed from Levy County.
What Grows in Raleigh
Every plant below cleared Raleigh's own zone 9a and its 310-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Raleigh?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 3 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 10 — 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 Raleigh
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Raleigh. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- RALEIGH GENERAL STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- FOSS FOAM PRODUCTS OF FLORIDA INCBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- PICKEL WELL DRILLING & SEPTIC COUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- CANAL FOREST PRODUCTSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- V E WHITEHURST & SON INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- MATHEWS WILLIAM DUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- CITGO-BOBSUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.4 mi
- SEABRING MARINE INDUSTRIES, INC.Toxics Release Inventory · 3.8 mi
- MARTHA WHITE FOODS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- MASTER LUBE AUTO SERVICE CENTER INCBrownfields · 3.8 mi
- LIL CHAMP FOOD STORES INC #1181Brownfields · 3.9 mi
- CIRCLE K #2721181Underground Storage Tanks · 3.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Raleigh'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 Raleigh.
Total Sites
98
within ~10 miles of Raleigh
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Raleigh
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Raleigh
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Raleigh, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Raleigh — Underground Storage Tanks (63 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (6 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Raleigh
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 Raleigh average
Your land is one point inside Raleigh
Everything above resolves to Raleigh as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Levy 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 Raleigh Average
Raleigh Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Raleigh
- ●One soil character for all of Raleigh
- ●Frost dates read at Raleigh's scale: Feb 3 to Dec 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Raleigh's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Raleigh
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Raleigh, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Raleigh averages can't show:
We read public map data around Raleigh — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Raleigh average
How we know this about Raleigh
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 Levy 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 Raleigh
When does frost risk typically end in Raleigh?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Raleigh typically lands around Feb 3, 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 24.
When is the first frost in Raleigh?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Raleigh typically arrives around Dec 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 26, so the watching starts about Nov 10 — about 310 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Raleigh?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Raleigh sees about 310 frost-free days — roughly Feb 3 through Dec 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 24 to Nov 26, about 275 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Raleigh?
The federal record around Raleigh is a meaningful one — 98 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (63), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Raleigh?
From about Nov 10 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 10 (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 10. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Raleigh's scale — its 9a band and its 310-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Raleigh'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 Raleigh’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Raleigh's own scale — the 1,244 acres it covers and 98 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Raleigh's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 98 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Raleigh, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Raleigh's boundary and the 1,244 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~310-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Raleigh's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Raleigh has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Levy County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Raleigh's 1,244 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Levy County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Levy 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 Levy County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Raleigh's 1,244 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Raleigh you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,244 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Raleigh-wide figureread your own land →
More in Florida
Wider growing context
What grows across FloridaRaleigh sits outside our named growing regions, so Florida as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides