Episode 4: Deer Damage, Leaf Drop, and Fall Planting — Here’s What to Know

Written By Colleen Dieter

🌿 What to Do in Your Central Texas Garden (November 1–15)

Welcome back to The ATXGardens Podcast with landscape consultant and certified arborist Colleen Dieter of ATXGardens.com!
This episode is all about what to focus on in the first half of November—from tree care and leaf management to cool-season veggies, herbs, and the perennials and bulbs that thrive this time of year.

🌼 Client Story: Small, Shady Yard Makeover

This week, Colleen met with Sally in Travis Country, who wanted to transform her shady, dog-friendly backyard into a relaxing space for entertaining. Together they planned tighter pathways to key “destinations,” re-positioned beds, swapped bulky furniture for better flow, and even carved out a cozy spot for a small vegetable garden.

If you’re trying to create more function and flow in your outdoor space, this episode has plenty of ideas you can borrow!

🍂 November Garden Big-Picture Tips

As temperatures drop, Central Texas gardeners should focus on helping plants slow down naturally instead of pushing new growth.

  • 🚫 Skip fertilizer. It stimulates tender new shoots that can freeze.

  • 🌿 Use compost tea or liquid humate instead (find Colleen’s recipe at http://ATXGardens.com ).

  • 🌳 Plant and transplant woody plants now—trees, shrubs, and vines will establish strong roots before summer heat arrives.

🌳 Trees & Shrubs

November is prime time for adding structure and color to your landscape.

  • Plant small and mid-sized natives with great fall color, such as Rusty blackhaw viburnum, Possumhaw holly, Texas ash, and flameleaf sumac.

  • Protect young trees from deer damage. Bucks rub their antlers to shed velvet, and smooth-barked trees like crepe myrtle, Texas persimmon, and fruit trees are especially vulnerable. Add trunk guards to protect them through winter.

  • Leaf wisdom: Pecan and walnut trees drop early; red oaks hang on into December; and live oaks keep their leaves all winter before dropping them in mid-March.

  • Mulch, don’t rake! Use fallen leaves around trees and beds to improve soil and retain moisture—but hold off on pruning until the trees are fully dormant.

🍑 Fruit Trees

  • Clean up fallen fruit and leaves from peach, apple, pear, and plum trees to reduce pest and disease carryover.

  • Plant containerized pome and stone fruits, grapes, and persimmons now.

  • When trees are mostly defoliated, spray with copper soap to prevent fire blight and canker.

🌸 Perennials & Bulbs

  • Avoid planting warm-season perennials or grasses now—they’re unlikely to establish before freezes.

  • Instead, plant cool-season perennials like columbine, spiderwort, and lyreleaf sage that stay green through winter and bloom in early spring.

  • For bulbs, try Dutch iris, snowflakes (Leucojum), rain lilies, or oxblood lilies.

  • Remember, northern bulbs like tulips and hyacinths need artificial chilling and usually only bloom once in Central Texas.

🥕 Vegetables

  • Direct-sow cool-season crops: arugula, bok choy, beets, carrots, chard, mustard, turnips, lettuce, radishes, leeks, collards, and spinach.

  • Transplant broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage.

  • Last call for planting garlic cloves, and start onions from seed.

  • Strawberries can be planted now too—they’re heavy feeders that do best in raised beds or containers.

  • 🌬️ Freeze prep: Keep soil moist and water the day before a freeze. Hydrated plants handle cold stress far better.

🌿 Herbs

  • Start cool-season annual herbs like cilantro, parsley, dill, chamomile, calendula, and fennel.

  • Plant hardy perennials like mint, lemon balm, garlic chives, multiplying onions, catnip, and winter savory.

  • Wait until spring to plant oregano, thyme, and rosemary unless you can protect them during freezes.

🌾 Lawns, Annuals & Wildflowers

  • Keep leaves off the lawn (rake or mulch-mow) to prevent thinning and smothering.

  • Now’s the ideal time to plan lawn-to-garden conversions for spring planting.

  • Add instant color with cool-season annuals like pansies, violas, snapdragons, sweet peas, cyclamen, and dianthus.

  • If you missed the fall seeding window, buy wildflower starts in 4” pots or try live roots from local suppliers like Native American Seed.

🌻 Events & Classes

  • Nov 1: Seeding Hope Fall Festival — Central Texas Seed Savers fundraiser (Greensleeves Nursery, Pflugerville)

  • Nov 8: Annual Seed Swap — Austin Public Library – Central (11–1 PM)

  • Nov 17: Tree Planting Talk — Williamson County Master Gardeners (6:30 PM)

Find full details and tickets at ATXGardens.com/speaking-events.

🔗 Links & Resources Mentioned

🌼 Stay Connected

For more Central Texas garden tips, visit ATXGardens.com, follow Colleen on Instagram @‌ATXGardens_, and don’t forget to subscribe to The ATXGardens Podcast for biweekly updates straight from your favorite Austin garden consultant.

Colleen Dieter
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Episode 5: What to Plant and Protect in Your Central Texas Garden (Late November – Early December)
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Episode 3: Get ready for Winter?