Highest yield food trees for North-ish Florida Wetland

This is a very specific request but I am inspired by the "pushing the Zone" discussion. I have/use two parcels of land in Florida. On is in zone 9b (Tampa area) the other is in 9a (nature coast) We can grow tropical plants in 9b with no issue, bananas, pineapple, papaya, guava as we have only had 1 night of freezing temps in 4 years. However, our 9a property receives several frosts each winter. Im looking for suggestions on great, durable, high yield plants that can tolerate the 9a freezes, or will manage with a little zone-pushing habitat alteration.
THANK YOU!

First ones that spring to mind are Persimmon and Pawpaw.

Hi Meagan,
  I just moved to the Tampa area and now have a small plot (1/2 acre). It's currently planted with traditional grass, a few oaks, some saw palmetto, and a lone carambola. I am eager to plant a "food forest" and have been reading Gaia's Garden and several books by David the Good. Of course I would like to do much gathering of information before I plan out my plantings this spring. Like you, I am in zone 9b. Could you please list the fruit trees, ground covers, etc. that have grown really well in our zone? Also any other resources you found particularly useful in the Tampa area?
 Hoping to join the club of permaculture,
    Many thanks,
       John

Hi John, welcome to Permies!  You might want to check out the links in this thread on Stuff that grows good in your zone.  I'm not sure which one applies to your area but there's a decent chance it's in there.

Thanks Mike. Already checked there and so far not much is posted about zone 9b in Florida. Would love to hear what locals have to say.
  Hoping to learn,
     John

Hi Megan,
  I just recently moved to the Tampa area (Lutz) and have been reading much about what grows well here. Things I have noticed during local walks are very healthy starfruit trees and a beautiful mulberry. I had a nice long chat with the folks at Jene's nursery in St. Pete, and based on their advice I just planted mulberry, lychee, mango, fig, and passion fruit. They've been in the ground for a week and already nice new leaves are budding. I'll keep posting on how everything is doing. I'd love to hear more from folks who have been in Tampa awhile to get other opinions on what thrives here.
John

I would try the hardier citrus like mandarins and Meyer lemons, as well as the hardiest avocadoes of the Mexican type, for the colder property.  Plenty of people near Gainesville are growing both.  But they CANNOT tolerate soggy soil at any time of year, so if your land is prone to this they MUST be planted on ridges or mounds.  Was careful to say this since you mention "wetland" in your header title.  Also, elderberries love wet!

meagan Jensen wrote:This is a very specific request but I am inspired by the "pushing the Zone" discussion. I have/use two parcels of land in Florida. On is in zone 9b (Tampa area) the other is in 9a (nature coast) We can grow tropical plants in 9b with no issue, bananas, pineapple, papaya, guava as we have only had 1 night of freezing temps in 4 years. However, our 9a property receives several frosts each winter. Im looking for suggestions on great, durable, high yield plants that can tolerate the 9a freezes, or will manage with a little zone-pushing habitat alteration.
THANK YOU!

We live in a very similar climate, not sure on the soil type though, so suggest:

Mango
Passionfruit
Mulberry
Ginger
Galangal
Cardamom
Pepper
Citrus
Grape
Macadamia

Also, suggest you do a search on the exotic South American fruits like sapote (black and white), custard apple. Asian ones like: lychee, longan, rambutan, mangosteen, etc.

Most of these are on my 'to get' list, a few I already have.