Sumatra, 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 Sumatra, 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 Sumatra 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 Sumatra — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Sumatra — the short answer
Sumatra, Florida: USDA zone 9a, about 294 days between hard freezes, across 619 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 12
- Liberty County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 3
- Liberty County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~294
- Liberty County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 619 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 Liberty County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Sumatra's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Sumatra's 294-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Sumatra
Each reading below is measured for Sumatra itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsSumatra runs about 294 days between hard freezes (read from Liberty County, the closest normal to Sumatra) — 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
MeasuredSumatra 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 Sumatra is in
Sumatra sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Sumatra's own centroid rather than borrowed from Liberty County.
What Grows in Sumatra
Every plant below cleared Sumatra's own zone 9a and its 294-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Sumatra?
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 15; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 12 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 3 — 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 Sumatra
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Sumatra. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- PARISH STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- SUMATRA GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- KEN'S AIR SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.2 mi
- MK RANCHES-WILLIS LANDINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.7 mi
- MK RANCH WELL NR WEWANitrate · 8.0 mi
- PLACID OIL CO SUPPLY WELLNitrate · 8.4 mi
- PORT ST JOE RIVER PUMP STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.8 mi
- DOUGLAS LANDINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.1 mi
Measured from Sumatra'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 Sumatra.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Sumatra
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Sumatra
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 Sumatra average
Your land is one point inside Sumatra
Everything above resolves to Sumatra as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 619 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Liberty 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 Sumatra Average
Sumatra Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Sumatra
- ●One soil character for all of Sumatra
- ●Frost dates read at Sumatra's scale: Feb 12 to Dec 3
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Sumatra's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Sumatra
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Sumatra, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Sumatra averages can't show:
We read public map data around Sumatra — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Sumatra average
How we know this about Sumatra
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 Liberty 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 Sumatra
When does frost risk typically end in Sumatra?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Sumatra typically lands around Feb 12, 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 5.
When is the first frost in Sumatra?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Sumatra typically arrives around Dec 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 19, so the watching starts about Nov 3 — about 294 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Sumatra?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Sumatra sees about 294 frost-free days — roughly Feb 12 through Dec 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 5 to Nov 19, about 259 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Sumatra?
The federal record around Sumatra is light — 10 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (6), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Sumatra?
From about Nov 3 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 3 (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 3. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Sumatra's scale — its 9a band and its 294-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Sumatra'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 Sumatra’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Sumatra's own scale — the 619 acres it covers and 10 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Sumatra's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 10 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Sumatra, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Sumatra's boundary and the 619 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~294-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Sumatra's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Sumatra has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Liberty County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Sumatra's 619 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Liberty County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Liberty 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 Liberty County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Sumatra's 619 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Sumatra you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 619 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Sumatra-wide figureread your own land →
More in Florida
Growing region
Nearby growing guides