University, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Crops well matched to these conditions include okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in University, 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 University 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 University — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
University — the short answer
University, Florida: USDA zone 9b, about 331 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~331
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 4K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is University's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against University's 331-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in University
Each reading below is measured for University itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredUniversity runs about 331 days between hard freezes — 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
MeasuredUniversity 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 University is in
University sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at University's own centroid rather than borrowed from Hillsborough County.
What Grows in University
Every plant below cleared University's own zone 9b and its 331-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in University?
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 21 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 18 — 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 University
Closest first, within ~10 miles of University. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BEARSS QUICK MART INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- SUNOCO - SKIPPER #439Underground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- TAMPA SUNSHINEBrownfields · 1300 ft
- BRIGHTSTAR FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- FLORIDA DEP DSCP SITE ERIC_4721Brownfields · 1600 ft
- FMC HEARTCARE & RADIOLOGYBrownfields · 2300 ft
- TARGET #T-0656Brownfields · 2500 ft
- CS UNIVERSITY DRY CLEANERSBrownfields · 2500 ft
- TOWER IMAGING DBA TGH IMAGINGBrownfields · 2600 ft
- FMC NEUROLOGY TAMPABrownfields · 2600 ft
- SHALIMAR JEWELERSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- BP QUICKMART UNIVERSITYBrownfields · 0.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from University'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 University.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of University
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of University
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around University, Superfund runs higher than the national average — 55 sites within ~10 miles of University. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in University
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 University average
Your land is one point inside University
Everything above resolves to University as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 4K acres. 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 University Average
University Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across University
- ●One soil character for all of University
- ●Frost dates read at University's scale: Jan 21 to Dec 18
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not University's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in University
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in University, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that University averages can't show:
We read public map data around University — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the University average
How we know this about University
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 University’s own record; 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 University
When does frost risk typically end in University?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in University typically lands around Jan 21, 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 11.
When is the first frost in University?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in University typically arrives around Dec 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 4, so the watching starts about Nov 18 — about 331 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in University?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, University sees about 331 frost-free days — roughly Jan 21 through Dec 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 11 to Dec 4, about 296 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in University?
The federal record around University runs heavier than most — 3,627 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (1,785), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in University?
From about Nov 18 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 18 (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 18. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at University's scale — its 9b band and its 331-day season. Your yard writes its own version of University'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 University’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at University's own scale — its own ~331-day season between 28°F freezes, the 4,050 acres it covers and 3,627 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- University's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- University's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Jan 21 and Dec 18 and the ~331-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 3,627 documented contamination sites on the federal record near University, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- University's boundary and the 4,050 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~331-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at University's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so University's 4,050 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hillsborough County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hillsborough 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 Hillsborough County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among University's 4,050 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of University you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,050 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 University-wide figureread your own land →
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