White Springs, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
These conditions suit artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in White Springs, 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 White Springs 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 White Springs — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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White Springs — the short answer
White Springs, Florida: USDA zone 9a, about 293 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 15
- Hamilton County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 5
- Hamilton County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~293
- Hamilton County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 Hamilton County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is White Springs's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against White Springs's 293-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in White Springs
Each reading below is measured for White Springs itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsWhite Springs runs about 293 days between hard freezes (read from Hamilton County, the closest normal to White Springs) — 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
MeasuredWhite Springs 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 White Springs is in
White Springs sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at White Springs's own centroid rather than borrowed from Hamilton County.
What Grows in White Springs
Every plant below cleared White Springs's own zone 9a and its 293-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in White Springs?
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 18; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 15 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 5 — 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 White Springs
Closest first, within ~10 miles of White Springs. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SUWANNEE HARDWAREUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- HAMILTON CNTY SCHOOL BD-S HAMILTON ELEMUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- STEVE'S STOP & SHOP #1Underground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- MUNCHIES FOOD STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- B & E HAULINGBrownfields · 1700 ft
- S&S #308Underground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- PACKAGING CORP OF AMERICAUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- ALLTEL FL INC-CENTRAL OFFICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- WHITE SPRINGS CITYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- FAMILY TRADITIONSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- S&S #332Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- WHITE SPRINGS WELL NO. 1 AAJ3644Nitrate · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from White Springs'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 White Springs.
Total Sites
95
within ~10 miles of White Springs
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of White Springs
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of White Springs
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.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in White Springs
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 White Springs average
Your land is one point inside White Springs
Everything above resolves to White Springs as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Hamilton 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 White Springs Average
White Springs Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across White Springs
- ●One soil character for all of White Springs
- ●Frost dates read at White Springs's scale: Feb 15 to Dec 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not White Springs's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in White Springs
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in White Springs, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that White Springs averages can't show:
We read public map data around White Springs — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the White Springs average
How we know this about White Springs
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 Hamilton 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 White Springs
When does frost risk typically end in White Springs?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in White Springs typically lands around Feb 15, 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 8.
When is the first frost in White Springs?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in White Springs typically arrives around Dec 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 21, so the watching starts about Nov 5 — about 293 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in White Springs?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, White Springs sees about 293 frost-free days — roughly Feb 15 through Dec 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 8 to Nov 21, about 258 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in White Springs?
The federal record around White Springs shows 95 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (56), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 White Springs?
From about Nov 5 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 5 (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 5. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at White Springs's scale — its 9a band and its 293-day season. Your yard writes its own version of White Springs'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 White Springs’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at White Springs's own scale — the 1,171 acres it covers and 95 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- White Springs's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 95 documented contamination sites on the federal record near White Springs, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- White Springs's boundary and the 1,171 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~293-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at White Springs's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — White Springs has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Hamilton County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so White Springs's 1,171 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hamilton County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hamilton 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 Hamilton County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among White Springs's 1,171 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of White Springs you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,171 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 White Springs-wide figureread your own land →
More in Florida
Wider growing context
What grows across FloridaWhite Springs sits outside our named growing regions, so Florida as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides