Place guide
Planting zones in Jacksonville, FL
This metro spans USDA zones 9a to 9b, so there is no single zone for Jacksonville, FL and anyone who gives you one is rounding. 73% of its ZIP codes are zone 9b; the rest are not.
Your ZIP code
Get the exact answer for your address
Everything above describes Jacksonville, FL as a whole. Hardiness zones and freeze dates are published per ZIP code, so yours is exact — enter it and this page will tell you your zone, which NOAA station it comes from and how far away that station is.
What you can sow in Jacksonville, FL now
5 of 32 crops that every one of the 15 NOAA stations serving this metro area agrees still has time to mature — with a week in hand, so this holds until the page is next rebuilt.
- 🧅 Green Onions 55d
- 🥬 Swiss Chard 55d
- 🥬 Kale 60d
- 🥬 Collards 60d
- 🥕 Carrots 70d
The freeze dates here cross the new year, so no single range describes them and none is quoted. Each ZIP code's own station is cited in the lookup above.
A further 25 crops depend on where in Jacksonville, FL you are — its stations disagree about them. The ZIP lookup above settles it for one address.
The growing season at one or more of this metro area's stations crosses 1 January, so a one-year bar would have to start the season after it ended. No chart is drawn rather than a misleading one.
Which zone you are in depends where you are
Jacksonville, FL covers 2 hardiness zones. A guide that gives the metro one zone has picked whichever is largest and rounded everyone else into it — which is fine for the 73% in zone 9b and wrong for the other 27%. Here is the actual split.
| Zone | ZIP codes | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9b | 45 | 73% | |
| 9a | 17 | 27% |
Zones are published per ZIP code, so yours is exact even though the metro's is not. The hardiness tool will tell you which one you are in.
Your freeze dates
No freeze range is shown for Jacksonville, FL, because the freeze window here crosses New Year, so an earliest-to-latest range would be arithmetic on dates that do not sit in order. The tools below still answer for individual ZIP codes here, and will say what applies.
Your growing season
NOAA publishes a growing-season length for each station, and across the 15 stations serving Jacksonville, FL it runs 272–356 days . That figure is published, not computed from the two freeze dates — subtracting one from the other gives the wrong answer wherever a season crosses New Year. Mean summer high (June–August) runs 87–93 °F , at or above the 90 °F point where cool-season crops bolt and tomato and pepper pollen fails — so midsummer sowings of lettuce and its relatives are worth holding here. Summer rain over the same months runs 17.5–22.3" across those 15 stations, against the rough inch a week — about 13 inches over the same 92 days — that a vegetable garden is usually reckoned to want. At the middle station that is covered, so watering in Jacksonville, FL is for the gaps between storms rather than the whole season. The inches are NOAA's published normals; the inch a week is a rule of thumb, and it takes no account of a 90 °F summer afternoon drying the soil faster than a cool one.
What survives the winter changes across Jacksonville, FL
Of 74 perennial fruits, nuts, berries, vegetables and herbs, 46 come through the winter in zone 9a and only 40 in zone 9b. That is a different garden at each end of the same metro.
| Zone | ZIPs | Survive | Fail for being too warm |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9a | 17 | 46 of 74 | 25 |
| 9b | 45 | 40 of 74 | 32 |
The last column is the counterintuitive one, and it is why the totals do not simply rise as the winters get milder. Most temperate fruit needs a documented number of hours below about 45 °F to break dormancy and set a crop, so an apple fails in a winter that is too warm; currants and rhubarb cook in the summer heat that comes with it. See the full list with reasons.
At least one station here freezes across the new year, which puts the two ends of a spread on opposite sides of the calendar. Drawing it would produce a bar spanning almost the whole year and meaning nothing, so none is drawn.
The 15 stations behind these numbers
All 15 NOAA stations whose normals this page quotes, spanning about 123 km north to south. Every one is named with its identifier in the station list below — this page does not single one out, because no one station speaks for a whole metro area.
A relative sketch, not a map with a projection: longitude is adjusted for latitude so the shape is not stretched, and there is no basemap. For the one station nearest a specific address, with its real distance, use the ZIP lookup above.
Every figure above comes from these, and each is named so you can check it. Which station serves a given ZIP code, and how far away it is, varies across the metro — the table below gives it per ZIP code rather than this page averaging it.
| Station | NOAA ID | Last spring freeze | First fall freeze | Season |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Federal Pt, FL | USC00082915 | January 31 | January 4 | 337 days |
| Fernandina Beach, FL | USC00082944 | February 2 | January 4 | 333 days |
| Folkston 9 SW, GA | USC00093465 | February 26 | December 7 | 285 days |
| Glen St Mary 1 W, FL | USC00083470 | March 8 | December 1 | 272 days |
| Hastings 4Ne, FL | USC00083874 | February 14 | December 30 | 308 days |
| Jackson Whitehouse Nolf, FL | USW00063890 | February 28 | December 3 | 280 days |
| Jacksonville Beach, FL | USC00084366 | January 31 | January 10 | 345 days |
| Jacksonville Craig Muni AP, FL | USW00053860 | February 9 | December 31 | 314 days |
| Jacksonville Nas, FL | USW00093837 | February 1 | January 5 | 330 days |
| Jacksonville, FL | USW00013889 | February 25 | December 7 | 288 days |
| Lake City 2 E, FL | USC00084731 | March 1 | November 28 | 273 days |
| Mayport Pilot Stn, FL | USW00003853 | February 1 | January 5 | 332 days |
| Palm Coast 6Ne, FL | USC00086767 | January 24 | January 11 | 356 days |
| St Augustine Lighthouse, FL | USC00087826 | February 1 | January 5 | 334 days |
| Starke, FL | USC00088529 | February 8 | December 24 | 313 days |
These are medians, not averages — NOAA publishes freeze dates as a probability distribution, and half of years freeze later than the date shown.
Every ZIP code in Jacksonville, FL
Zones are published per ZIP code, not per metro area, so this is the exact answer rather than the metro area's average. The station column is the nearest one to that ZIP code's centroid and how far away it is — the same figure the tools use, shown here so you can see which ZIP codes are well covered and which are reaching.
| ZIP code | USDA zone | Nearest NOAA station | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 32003 | 9b | Jacksonville Nas, FL | 15.9 km |
| 32009 | 9a | Jackson Whitehouse Nolf, FL | 11.8 km |
| 32011 | 9a | Jacksonville, FL | 16.3 km |
| 32033 | 9b | Hastings 4Ne, FL | 3.3 km |
| 32034 | 9b | Fernandina Beach, FL | 7.8 km |
| 32040 | 9a | Glen St Mary 1 W, FL | 5.5 km |
| 32043 | 9b | Federal Pt, FL | 27.5 km |
| 32046 | 9a | Folkston 9 SW, GA | 20.6 km |
| 32063 | 9a | Glen St Mary 1 W, FL | 6.3 km |
| 32065 | 9a | Jackson Whitehouse Nolf, FL | 19.5 km |
| 32068 | 9a | Jacksonville Nas, FL | 26.8 km |
| 32072 | 9a | Lake City 2 E, FL | 16.4 km |
| 32073 | 9b | Jacksonville Nas, FL | 10.1 km |
| 32079 | 9a | Starke, FL | 30.1 km |
| 32080 | 9b | St Augustine Lighthouse, FL | 8.0 km |
| 32081 | 9b | Jacksonville Beach, FL | 18.9 km |
| 32082 | 9b | Jacksonville Beach, FL | 19.7 km |
| 32084 | 9b | St Augustine Lighthouse, FL | 8.0 km |
| 32086 | 9b | Palm Coast 6Ne, FL | 15.2 km |
| 32087 | 9a | Glen St Mary 1 W, FL | 15.0 km |
| 32092 | 9b | Hastings 4Ne, FL | 18.9 km |
| 32095 | 9b | St Augustine Lighthouse, FL | 21.3 km |
| 32097 | 9a | Fernandina Beach, FL | 18.8 km |
| 32145 | 9b | Hastings 4Ne, FL | 10.8 km |
| 32202 | 9b | Jacksonville Nas, FL | 10.3 km |
| 32203 | 9b | Jacksonville Nas, FL | 11.5 km |
| 32204 | 9b | Jacksonville Nas, FL | 9.4 km |
| 32205 | 9b | Jacksonville Nas, FL | 9.4 km |
| 32206 | 9b | Jacksonville Craig Muni AP, FL | 12.0 km |
| 32207 | 9b | Jacksonville Nas, FL | 6.7 km |
| 32208 | 9b | Jacksonville, FL | 10.3 km |
| 32209 | 9b | Jacksonville, FL | 13.7 km |
| 32210 | 9b | Jacksonville Nas, FL | 8.6 km |
| 32211 | 9b | Jacksonville Craig Muni AP, FL | 6.5 km |
| 32212 | 9b | Jacksonville Nas, FL | 1.3 km |
| 32214 | 9b | Jacksonville Nas, FL | 3.3 km |
| 32216 | 9b | Jacksonville Craig Muni AP, FL | 8.9 km |
| 32217 | 9b | Jacksonville Nas, FL | 4.4 km |
| 32218 | 9b | Jacksonville, FL | 3.3 km |
| 32219 | 9a | Jackson Whitehouse Nolf, FL | 10.7 km |
| 32220 | 9a | Jackson Whitehouse Nolf, FL | 3.2 km |
| 32221 | 9a | Jackson Whitehouse Nolf, FL | 10.2 km |
| 32222 | 9a | Jacksonville Nas, FL | 16.0 km |
| 32223 | 9b | Jacksonville Nas, FL | 8.7 km |
| 32224 | 9b | Jacksonville Beach, FL | 6.8 km |
| 32225 | 9b | Jacksonville Craig Muni AP, FL | 2.6 km |
| 32226 | 9b | Mayport Pilot Stn, FL | 12.5 km |
| 32227 | 9b | Mayport Pilot Stn, FL | 1.7 km |
| 32228 | 9b | Mayport Pilot Stn, FL | 1.8 km |
| 32233 | 9b | Mayport Pilot Stn, FL | 4.7 km |
| 32234 | 9a | Jackson Whitehouse Nolf, FL | 18.0 km |
| 32244 | 9b | Jacksonville Nas, FL | 8.4 km |
| 32246 | 9b | Jacksonville Craig Muni AP, FL | 5.0 km |
| 32250 | 9b | Jacksonville Beach, FL | 2.0 km |
| 32254 | 9b | Jacksonville Nas, FL | 13.6 km |
| 32256 | 9b | Jacksonville Beach, FL | 14.6 km |
| 32257 | 9b | Jacksonville Nas, FL | 7.1 km |
| 32258 | 9b | Jacksonville Nas, FL | 15.1 km |
| 32259 | 9b | Jacksonville Nas, FL | 19.3 km |
| 32266 | 9b | Jacksonville Beach, FL | 3.7 km |
| 32277 | 9b | Jacksonville Craig Muni AP, FL | 8.9 km |
| 32656 | 9a | Starke, FL | 20.6 km |
ZIP-code positions are area centroids, so a large rural ZIP code's listed distance is measured from the middle of its area rather than from any particular address in it.
Your own ZIP
Work out your own dates
Each of these takes a ZIP code and answers for that ZIP alone, citing the station it used and how far away it is. There is a ZIP box in the header of every page.
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What survives my winter?
Runs on the hardiness zone, so it answers for all of Jacksonville, FL at once — zone across 74 perennial fruits, berries, vegetables and herbs.
- When do I start my seeds?
Dates every spring job from your own last freeze — sow indoors, set out, direct sow.
- When do I sow the next round?
How often each crop is worth re-sowing, and when the next sowing is due.
- What can I still plant?
Counts the growing days left before your first fall freeze, crop by crop.
Other places to compare
These metros span exactly the same zones — 9a–9b — so the same plants are in and out of range across them. The freeze dates and the spring calendar are their own.
- Gainesville, FL — zones 9a–9b
- Lafayette, LA — zones 9a–9b
- Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX — zones 9a–9b
- Ocala, FL — zones 9a–9b
- Lake Charles, LA — zones 9a–9b
- Yuba City, CA — zones 9a–9b
- Merced, CA — zones 9a–9b
- Panama City-Panama City Beach, FL — zones 9a–9b
Gardening in Florida — zones 8b– 11b covers the whole state: how its 1,008 ZIP codes divide between 7 hardiness zones, and the freeze dates across every NOAA station in it.
Other metro areas in FL:
- North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, FL Zones 9b–10b
- Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL Zones 9b–10a
- Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL Zones 10a–11a
- Gainesville, FL Zones 9a–9b
- Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, FL Zones 9b–10a
- Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL Zone 10a
- Ocala, FL Zones 9a–9b
- Tallahassee, FL Zone 9a
- Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent, FL Zones 8b–9b
- Port St. Lucie, FL Zones 10a–10b
- Naples-Marco Island, FL Zones 10a–10b
- Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL Zones 8b–9b
Gear
If you want to act on this
Each link opens an Amazon search rather than a product we picked. We have not tested these and do not rank them — the search is the honest version, and you choose.
- Soaker hose and drip kitsThe stations here publish no ordinary freeze window, so frost is not what limits the season — water is, through a summer that does not stop.
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. That costs you nothing extra, and it buys no influence over anything on this site: the dates come from NOAA normals and the zones from the USDA, and no product affects either.
Sources
Where these numbers come from
The hardiness zone is the USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, published per ZIP code by PRISM at Oregon State. The freeze dates are NOAA's 1991–2020 Climate Normals, read from every station whose normals cover a ZIP code in this metro. Nothing here is estimated, and no station stands in for another.
This page names no single station on purpose. Picking one to represent a metro sounds reasonable and is not: the station serving the most ZIP codes is an artifact of where ZIP centroids happen to fall, and it selects a lock on the Monongahela for Pittsburgh and a far southern suburb for Chicago. A range across every station is true; a single cited date for a whole metro is not.