Wewahitchka, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Reliable performers under these conditions include artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Wewahitchka, 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 Wewahitchka 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 Wewahitchka — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Wewahitchka — the short answer
Wewahitchka, Florida: USDA zone 9a, about 314 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 1
- Gulf County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 12
- Gulf County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~314
- Gulf County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 4K 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 Gulf County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Wewahitchka's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Wewahitchka's 314-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Wewahitchka
Each reading below is measured for Wewahitchka itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsWewahitchka runs about 314 days between hard freezes (read from Gulf County, the closest normal to Wewahitchka) — 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
MeasuredWewahitchka 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 Wewahitchka is in
Wewahitchka sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Wewahitchka's own centroid rather than borrowed from Gulf County.
What Grows in Wewahitchka
Every plant below cleared Wewahitchka's own zone 9a and its 314-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Wewahitchka?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 1 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 12 — 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 Wewahitchka
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Wewahitchka. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CUNNINGHAM COLLISION REPAIRBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- JW 'S USED TIRES & REPAIRSBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- SPORTSMAN STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- O'REILLY AUTO PARTS #6466Brownfields · 0.9 mi
- A-1 OIL & MUFFLER SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- LOCAL NO.006511132 (WEWAHITCHKA WELL NO. 2 AAA8325Nitrate · 1.0 mi
- WEWAHITCHKA CITYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- WEWAHITCHKA LK G RD WELLNitrate · 1.1 mi
- EXPRESS LANE #780 - FL0006Underground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- JIM'S ECONO STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- GULF CNTY SCHOOL BD-PORT ST JOE HSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- DIXIE DANDYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Wewahitchka'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 Wewahitchka.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Wewahitchka
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Wewahitchka
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Wewahitchka, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 39 sites within ~10 miles of Wewahitchka. 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 Wewahitchka
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 Wewahitchka average
Your land is one point inside Wewahitchka
Everything above resolves to Wewahitchka as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 4K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Gulf 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 Wewahitchka Average
Wewahitchka Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Wewahitchka
- ●One soil character for all of Wewahitchka
- ●Frost dates read at Wewahitchka's scale: Feb 1 to Dec 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Wewahitchka's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Wewahitchka
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Wewahitchka, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Wewahitchka averages can't show:
We read public map data around Wewahitchka — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Wewahitchka average
How we know this about Wewahitchka
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 Gulf 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 Wewahitchka
When does frost risk typically end in Wewahitchka?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Wewahitchka typically lands around Feb 1, 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 22.
When is the first frost in Wewahitchka?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Wewahitchka typically arrives around Dec 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 28, so the watching starts about Nov 12 — about 314 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Wewahitchka?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Wewahitchka sees about 314 frost-free days — roughly Feb 1 through Dec 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 22 to Nov 28, about 279 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Wewahitchka?
The federal record around Wewahitchka shows 51 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (39), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.6 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Wewahitchka?
From about Nov 12 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 12 (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 12. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Wewahitchka's scale — its 9a band and its 314-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Wewahitchka'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 Wewahitchka’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Wewahitchka's own scale — the 4,286 acres it covers and 51 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Wewahitchka's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 51 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Wewahitchka, the closest Brownfields record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Wewahitchka's boundary and the 4,286 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~314-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Wewahitchka's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Wewahitchka has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Gulf County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Wewahitchka's 4,286 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Gulf County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Gulf 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 Gulf County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Wewahitchka's 4,286 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Wewahitchka you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,286 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.6 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 Wewahitchka-wide figureread your own land →