What Grows in Spring Hill, Florida

USDA Zones 9b · 38K acres

Spring Hill, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.

Reliable performers under these conditions include okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.

Score your parcel · free

Even in Spring Hill, 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 Spring Hill 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 Spring Hill — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.

No card required · your full report in seconds

Spring Hill — the short answer

Spring Hill, Florida: USDA zone 9b, about 321 days between hard freezes, across 38K acres of town.

USDA zone
9b
USDA PHZM 2023
Last hard freeze (28°F)
Feb 2
Hernando County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
First hard freeze (28°F)
Dec 20
Hernando County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
Days between freezes
~321
Hernando County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
Town area
38K 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 Hernando County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.

Hardiness Zone Range

9b9b
3a (Cold)13b (Hot)

Zone 9b is Spring Hill's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Spring Hill's 321-day season, see what your own ground reads.

Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.

What this means for growing in Spring Hill

Each reading below is measured for Spring Hill itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.

Season length

From county records

Spring Hill runs about 321 days between hard freezes (read from Hernando County, the closest normal to Spring Hill) — 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

Measured

Spring Hill 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 Spring Hill is in

Spring Hill sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Spring Hill's own centroid rather than borrowed from Hernando County.

What that means for soil

What Grows in Spring Hill

Every plant below cleared Spring Hill's own zone 9b and its 321-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.

okra, photograph
Growing okra in FloridaZones 2–12Spring Hill's 321 days clear the ~50 it needs.
Meyer lemon, photograph
Florida meyer lemon guideZones 9–11Spring Hill's 9b is its exact cold limit.
California poppy, photograph
California poppy in FloridaZones 6–10Spring Hill's 9b — 3 zones of cold margin.
artichoke, photograph
Artichoke: Florida growing notesZones 7–11Spring Hill's 9b — 2 zones of cold margin.
avocado, photograph
Growing avocado in FloridaZones 9–11Spring Hill's 9b is its exact cold limit.
rosemary, photograph
Florida rosemary guideZones 8–10Spring Hill's 9b — 1 zone of cold margin.
cabbage, photograph
Cabbage in FloridaZones 2–11Spring Hill's 9b — 7 zones of cold margin.
banana, photograph
Banana: Florida growing notesZones 9–11Spring Hill's 9b is its exact cold limit.
Turkish rocket, photograph
Growing turkish rocket in FloridaSpring Hill's 321 days clear the ~90 it needs.
collard greens, photograph
Florida collard greens guideZones 2–11Spring Hill's 9b — 7 zones of cold margin.
kale, photograph
Kale in FloridaZones 2–11Spring Hill's 9b — 7 zones of cold margin.
lentil, photograph
Lentil: Florida growing notesZones 2–11Spring Hill's 321 days clear the ~70 it needs.
potato, photograph
Growing potato in FloridaZones 2–11Spring Hill's 9b — 7 zones of cold margin.
pumpkin, photograph
Florida pumpkin guideZones 3–11Spring Hill's 321 days clear the ~40 it needs.
sweet corn, photograph
Sweet corn in FloridaZones 2–11Spring Hill's 321 days clear the ~65 it needs.
iris, photograph
Iris: Florida growing notesZones 3–10Spring Hill's 9b — 6 zones of cold margin.
sunflower, photograph
Growing sunflower in FloridaZones 2–11Spring Hill's 321 days clear the ~70 it needs.
Apache plume, photograph
Florida apache plume guideZones 5–11Spring Hill's 9b — 4 zones of cold margin.
scarlet runner bean, photograph
Scarlet runner bean in FloridaZones 7–11Spring Hill's 9b — 2 zones of cold margin.
agave, photograph
Agave: Florida growing notesZones 8–11Spring Hill's 9b — 1 zone of cold margin.
French marigold, photograph
Growing french marigold in FloridaSpring Hill's 321 days clear the ~50 it needs.
holly, photograph
Florida holly guideZones 5–11Spring Hill's 9b — 4 zones of cold margin.
Carolina jessamine, photograph
Carolina jessamine in FloridaZones 7–10Spring Hill's 9b — 2 zones of cold margin.
mountain laurel, photograph
Mountain laurel: Florida growing notesZones 5–11Spring Hill's 9b — 4 zones of cold margin.
palo verde, photograph
Growing palo verde in FloridaZones 8–11Spring Hill's 9b — 1 zone of cold margin.
jungle rice, photograph
Florida jungle rice guideZones 7–13Spring Hill's 321 days clear the ~45 it needs.
ajuga, photograph
Ajuga in FloridaZones 5–11Spring Hill's 9b — 4 zones of cold margin.
redbud, photograph
Redbud: Florida growing notesZones 5–11Spring Hill's 9b — 4 zones of cold margin.
lablab, photograph
Growing lablab in FloridaZones 7–13Spring Hill's 9b — 2 zones of cold margin.
liriope, photograph
Florida liriope guideZones 5–11Spring Hill's 9b — 4 zones of cold margin.

Is it too late to plant in Spring Hill?

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 5; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 2 (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. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.

What's on the federal record near Spring Hill

Closest first, within ~10 miles of Spring Hill. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.

  1. LEMKO FL INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
  2. GRL & SONS ENTERPRISES INCBrownfields · 1.1 mi
  3. PUBLIX SUPER MARKET #813Brownfields · 1.1 mi
  4. WINN-DIXIE STORES #2484Brownfields · 1.1 mi
  5. CIRCLE K #7484Underground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
  6. MOBIL-MARINER #546Underground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
  7. KENS SPRINGHILL SERVICE CENTERBrownfields · 1.3 mi
  8. O'REILLY AUTO PARTS #5030Brownfields · 1.3 mi
  9. CIRCLE K #7484Brownfields · 1.3 mi
  10. FAST LANE EXPRESSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
  11. CVS PHARMACY #3746Brownfields · 1.4 mi
  12. WALGREENS #2192Brownfields · 1.4 mi

6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map

Measured from Spring Hill'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 Spring Hill.

Total Sites

414

within ~10 miles of Spring Hill

Risk Level

Elevated

Highest-severity

19 Toxics Release Inventory facilities

Severity Distribution

within ~10 miles of Spring Hill

High1Moderate136Low277

Highest-Severity Sites

7-Eleven Food Store #24069
Underground Storage Tanks · Open UST(S)
7-Eleven Food Store #32718
Underground Storage Tanks · Open UST(S)
7-Eleven Food Store #32791
Underground Storage Tanks · Open UST(S)
7-Eleven Food Store #32859
Underground Storage Tanks · Open UST(S)
7-Eleven Store #35369
Underground Storage Tanks · Open UST(S)

Know Before You Grow

  • Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
  • Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
  • On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Free Report

Check your specific parcel in Spring Hill

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 Spring Hill average

Your land is one point inside Spring Hill

Everything above resolves to Spring Hill as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 38K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Hernando 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 Spring Hill Average

Spring Hill Average

  • USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Spring Hill
  • One soil character for all of Spring Hill
  • Frost dates read at Spring Hill's scale: Feb 2 to Dec 20

YOUR Parcel

  • Your exact zone, not Spring Hill's 9b
  • Your SSURGO soil type & pH
  • Your sun exposure, cast in 3D

See MY Growing Report

Free Report

Read your specific parcel in Spring Hill

Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Spring Hill, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.

Three things about your lot that Spring Hill averages can't show:

Your soil pHYour frost-free days — Spring Hill averages 321Your sun & shade

We read public map data around Spring Hill — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.

25+ data sources read at your address, not the Spring Hill average

How we know this about Spring Hill

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 Hernando 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 Spring Hill

When does frost risk typically end in Spring Hill?

The last hard freeze (28°F) in Spring Hill typically lands around Feb 2, 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 23.

When is the first frost in Spring Hill?

The first hard freeze (28°F) in Spring Hill 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 321 days after the spring freeze cleared.

How long is the growing season in Spring Hill?

Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Spring Hill sees about 321 frost-free days — roughly Feb 2 through Dec 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 23 to Dec 6, about 286 days.

Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Spring Hill?

The federal record around Spring Hill is a meaningful one — 414 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (189), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 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 Spring Hill?

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 Spring Hill's scale — its 9b band and its 321-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Spring Hill'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 Spring Hill’s own scale

5 of the readings below were taken at Spring Hill's own scale — the 38,349 acres it covers and 414 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.

Measured here

  • Spring Hill's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
  • 414 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Spring Hill, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
  • Spring Hill's boundary and the 38,349 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
  • Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~321-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
  • The ecoregion at Spring Hill's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions

Inherited from a wider read

  • The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Spring Hill has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Hernando County
  • Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Spring Hill's 38,349 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hernando County
  • Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hernando 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 Hernando County

What this page can’t tell you

  • The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Spring Hill's 38,349 acreswhy one lot differs from the next
  • Which side of Spring Hill you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 38,349 acresreading your own microclimate
  • How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 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 Spring Hill-wide figureread your own land
The next step finer is your own address

More in Florida

Wider growing context

What grows across Florida

Spring Hill sits outside our named growing regions, so Florida as a whole is its closest context here.