Sopchoppy, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
The conditions favor artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Sopchoppy, 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 Sopchoppy 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 Sopchoppy — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Sopchoppy — the short answer
Sopchoppy, Florida: USDA zone 9a, about 306 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 10
- Wakulla County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 13
- Wakulla County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~306
- Wakulla County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City 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 Wakulla County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Sopchoppy's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Sopchoppy's 306-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Sopchoppy
Each reading below is measured for Sopchoppy itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsSopchoppy runs about 306 days between hard freezes (read from Wakulla County, the closest normal to Sopchoppy) — 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
MeasuredSopchoppy 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 Sopchoppy is in
Sopchoppy sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Sopchoppy's own centroid rather than borrowed from Wakulla County.
What Grows in Sopchoppy
Every plant below cleared Sopchoppy's own zone 9a and its 306-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Sopchoppy?
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 13; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 10 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 13 — 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 Sopchoppy
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Sopchoppy. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- NISEYS BAIT & TACKLEUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- EXPRESS LANE #723 - FL0030Underground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- FORMER E Z SERVE #4217Underground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- SOPCHOPPY CITY-MOSQUITO CONTROLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- CHEVRON-ROBERTSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- WAKULLA CNTY SCH BD-SOPCHOPPY ELEMUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- CHEVRON WILLISUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- ZY-SOPCHOPPY BOMB RANGESuperfund · 0.7 mi
- H E MCKENZIE FUEL OIL COUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- FL DEPT OF TRANSPORTATION MAINT YARDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- AREND ENTERPRISES INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- SOPCHOPPY, CITY OFPFAS · 3.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Sopchoppy'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 Sopchoppy.
Total Sites
48
within ~10 miles of Sopchoppy
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Sopchoppy
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Sopchoppy
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Sopchoppy, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 41 sites within ~10 miles of Sopchoppy. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Sopchoppy
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 Sopchoppy average
Your land is one point inside Sopchoppy
Everything above resolves to Sopchoppy as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Wakulla 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 Sopchoppy Average
Sopchoppy Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Sopchoppy
- ●One soil character for all of Sopchoppy
- ●Frost dates read at Sopchoppy's scale: Feb 10 to Dec 13
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Sopchoppy's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Sopchoppy
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Sopchoppy, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Sopchoppy averages can't show:
We read public map data around Sopchoppy — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Sopchoppy average
How we know this about Sopchoppy
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 Wakulla 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 Sopchoppy
When does frost risk typically end in Sopchoppy?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Sopchoppy typically lands around Feb 10, 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 Mar 3.
When is the first frost in Sopchoppy?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Sopchoppy typically arrives around Dec 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 29, so the watching starts about Nov 13 — about 306 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Sopchoppy?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Sopchoppy sees about 306 frost-free days — roughly Feb 10 through Dec 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 3 to Nov 29, about 271 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Sopchoppy?
The federal record around Sopchoppy is a meaningful one — 48 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (41), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Sopchoppy?
From about Nov 13 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 13 (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 13. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Sopchoppy's scale — its 9a band and its 306-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Sopchoppy'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 Sopchoppy’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Sopchoppy's own scale — the 1,074 acres it covers and 48 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Sopchoppy's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 48 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Sopchoppy, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Sopchoppy's boundary and the 1,074 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~306-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Sopchoppy's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Sopchoppy has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Wakulla County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Sopchoppy's 1,074 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Wakulla County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Wakulla 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 Wakulla County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Sopchoppy's 1,074 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Sopchoppy you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,074 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Sopchoppy-wide figureread your own land →
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