Worthington Springs, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
On paper, artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Worthington 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 Worthington 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 Worthington Springs — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Worthington Springs — the short answer
Worthington Springs, Florida: USDA zone 9a, about 307 days between hard freezes, across 614 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 7
- Union County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 11
- Union County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~307
- Union County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 614 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 Union County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Worthington Springs's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Worthington Springs's 307-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Worthington Springs
Each reading below is measured for Worthington Springs itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsWorthington Springs runs about 307 days between hard freezes (read from Union County, the closest normal to Worthington 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
MeasuredWorthington 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 Worthington Springs is in
Worthington Springs sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Worthington Springs's own centroid rather than borrowed from Union County.
What Grows in Worthington Springs
Every plant below cleared Worthington Springs's own zone 9a and its 307-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Worthington Springs?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 10; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 7 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 11 — 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 Worthington Springs
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Worthington Springs. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HANDY WAY FOOD STORE #3237Underground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- PRITCHETT TRUCKING INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- WILLIAMS TOWN & COUNTRYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- SURPLUS AUTO SALESBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- S&S #336Underground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- UNION 76-BROWN'S INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- THOMAS PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- AT&T COMMUNICATIONS-DUKESUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- COLSON MARKUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- SANTA FE RIVER RANCHUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.8 mi
- DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS-RMC PHARMACYBrownfields · 4.9 mi
- FL GAS TRANSMISSION CO-STAT #16Underground Storage Tanks · 4.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Worthington 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 Worthington Springs.
Total Sites
96
within ~10 miles of Worthington Springs
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Worthington Springs
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Worthington Springs
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Worthington Springs, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 66 sites within ~10 miles of Worthington Springs. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Worthington 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 Worthington Springs average
Your land is one point inside Worthington Springs
Everything above resolves to Worthington Springs as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 614 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Union 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 Worthington Springs Average
Worthington Springs Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Worthington Springs
- ●One soil character for all of Worthington Springs
- ●Frost dates read at Worthington Springs's scale: Feb 7 to Dec 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Worthington Springs's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Worthington Springs
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Worthington Springs, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Worthington Springs averages can't show:
We read public map data around Worthington Springs — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Worthington Springs average
How we know this about Worthington 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 Union 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 Worthington Springs
When does frost risk typically end in Worthington Springs?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Worthington Springs typically lands around Feb 7, 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 28.
When is the first frost in Worthington Springs?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Worthington Springs typically arrives around Dec 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 27, so the watching starts about Nov 11 — about 307 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Worthington Springs?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Worthington Springs sees about 307 frost-free days — roughly Feb 7 through Dec 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 28 to Nov 27, about 272 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Worthington Springs?
The federal record around Worthington Springs shows 96 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (66), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 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 Worthington Springs?
From about Nov 11 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 11 (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 11. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Worthington Springs's scale — its 9a band and its 307-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Worthington 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 Worthington Springs’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Worthington Springs's own scale — the 614 acres it covers and 96 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Worthington Springs's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 96 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Worthington Springs, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Worthington Springs's boundary and the 614 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~307-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Worthington Springs's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Worthington Springs has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Union County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Worthington Springs's 614 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Union County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Union 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 Union County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Worthington Springs's 614 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Worthington 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 614 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 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 Worthington Springs-wide figureread your own land →
More in Florida
Wider growing context
What grows across FloridaWorthington Springs sits outside our named growing regions, so Florida as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides