Southeast Arcadia, 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.
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 Southeast Arcadia, 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 Southeast Arcadia 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 Southeast Arcadia — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Southeast Arcadia — the short answer
Southeast Arcadia, Florida: USDA zone 9b, about 330 days between hard freezes, across 5K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 24
- DeSoto County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 20
- DeSoto County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~330
- DeSoto County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 5K 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 DeSoto County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Southeast Arcadia's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Southeast Arcadia's 330-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Southeast Arcadia
Each reading below is measured for Southeast Arcadia itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsSoutheast Arcadia runs about 330 days between hard freezes (read from DeSoto County, the closest normal to Southeast Arcadia) — 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
MeasuredSoutheast Arcadia 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 Southeast Arcadia is in
Southeast Arcadia sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Southeast Arcadia's own centroid rather than borrowed from DeSoto County.
What Grows in Southeast Arcadia
Every plant below cleared Southeast Arcadia's own zone 9b and its 330-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Southeast Arcadia?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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 24 (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 Southeast Arcadia
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Southeast Arcadia. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ARCADIA CITY - MUNICIPAL AIRPORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- RAYMOND QUAVE LAND CLEARINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- TURNER E H FAMILY PRTNRSHP LTD-NE 1Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- DEXTER AVIATION LLCBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- SPEEDWAY #6586Underground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- HARRYS AUTO REPAIRBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- ROBERT SMITH AUTO REPAIRBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- FUTURE MOTORSBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- DUKES AUTO REPAIRUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- DUNN'S SALVAGE JUNKYARDBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- LEADING EDGEBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- FLETCHER FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Southeast Arcadia'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 Southeast Arcadia.
Total Sites
197
within ~10 miles of Southeast Arcadia
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
5 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Southeast Arcadia
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Southeast Arcadia
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Southeast Arcadia, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Southeast Arcadia — PFAS (4 sites) and Superfund (5 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Southeast Arcadia
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 Southeast Arcadia average
Your land is one point inside Southeast Arcadia
Everything above resolves to Southeast Arcadia as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 5K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from DeSoto 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 Southeast Arcadia Average
Southeast Arcadia Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Southeast Arcadia
- ●One soil character for all of Southeast Arcadia
- ●Frost dates read at Southeast Arcadia's scale: Jan 24 to Dec 20
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Southeast Arcadia's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Southeast Arcadia
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Southeast Arcadia, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Southeast Arcadia averages can't show:
We read public map data around Southeast Arcadia — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Southeast Arcadia average
How we know this about Southeast Arcadia
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 DeSoto 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 Southeast Arcadia
When does frost risk typically end in Southeast Arcadia?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Southeast Arcadia typically lands around Jan 24, 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 14.
When is the first frost in Southeast Arcadia?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Southeast Arcadia 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 330 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Southeast Arcadia?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Southeast Arcadia sees about 330 frost-free days — roughly Jan 24 through Dec 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 14 to Dec 6, about 295 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Southeast Arcadia?
The federal record around Southeast Arcadia is a meaningful one — 197 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (90), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 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 Southeast Arcadia?
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 Southeast Arcadia's scale — its 9b band and its 330-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Southeast Arcadia'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 Southeast Arcadia’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Southeast Arcadia's own scale — the 4,628 acres it covers and 197 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Southeast Arcadia's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 197 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Southeast Arcadia, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Southeast Arcadia's boundary and the 4,628 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~330-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Southeast Arcadia's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Southeast Arcadia has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom DeSoto County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Southeast Arcadia's 4,628 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom DeSoto County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom DeSoto 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 DeSoto County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Southeast Arcadia's 4,628 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Southeast Arcadia you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,628 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 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 Southeast Arcadia-wide figureread your own land →