Fall Is Planting Season in North Texas. Here's How to Do It Right.
Most people want to plant in spring. The garden centers are packed, everything is blooming and it feels like the right time. Around here it's the second-best time. The best time is right now.
I made the case for fall planting in North Texas in our post on renovating a 20-year-old Lake Dallas landscape. This one is the practical side: when to get plants in the ground, how to plant them in our clay and how to get them through their first winter, which is where most fall plantings go wrong.
Why Fall Planting in North Texas Works, in Short
It comes down to what's happening above the ground versus below it.
Cooler air helps plants establish.
A new shrub doesn't have to fight 100-degree afternoons while it settles in, so it isn't losing water faster than a small root ball can take it up.
The soil stays warm, so roots keep growing.
Roots keep working as long as the soil stays above about 40 degrees, and in North Texas that's most of the winter.
A head start before next summer's heat.
By July, a shrub planted this fall has had months to build roots. One planted in May has had a few weeks.
When to Plant What
Texas Arbor Day falls on the first Friday in November, and that's not an accident. Late fall and winter are the best planting times in the state for trees and shrubs. Here's how I'd think about timing this year.
Shrubs, perennials and groundcovers.
October and November are the sweet spot. Try to get them in before the first hard freeze so the roots get a few warm weeks to start.
Trees.
Fall through winter works well, as long as the ground isn't frozen or soaked.
Tropicals and summer annuals.
Wait for spring. They won't like our winter.
If you're choosing plants, our list of the best plants for Flower Mound's clay soil works across most of our area.
Planting in Clay
Most yards in our six cities sit on heavy clay. It holds nutrients well, but it drains slowly, and that changes how you plant.
Wait for dry soil.
After a good rain, give it a few dry days before you dig. Working wet clay packs it down.
Dig wide, not deep.
Make the hole two to three times as wide as the root ball and no deeper than the root ball is tall. Roots spread out sideways into the loosened soil.
Set it a little high.
Set the top of the root ball an inch or so above the soil around it so water drains away from the stem instead of pooling there.
Amend the bed, not just the hole.
Compost worked into the whole bed helps. Filling only the planting hole with rich soil can turn it into a bathtub that holds water around the roots.
Watering New Plants Through Winter
This is where fall plantings usually fail, and it happens in both directions.
Once you've cut the sprinklers back or shut them off for winter, it's easy to forget the new plants still need water. Their roots haven't reached into the surrounding soil yet, so they dry out faster than everything around them. Texas A&M AgriLife's guidance for new trees and shrubs is about once every 7 to 10 days when it hasn't rained.
The opposite mistake is just as common. In clay, watering more often than that keeps the root ball soggy and leads to root rot. More new trees and shrubs die from too much water than too little.
Before you water, push a finger or a screwdriver a few inches into the soil right next to the root ball. If it's damp, wait a few days. For a handful of new plants, a hose or soaker hose is usually the easiest way to do it. In Lewisville, hand watering and soaker hoses are allowed any time under the city's current rules, so you don't have to wait for your sprinkler day.
When a hard freeze is in the forecast and the soil is dry, water a day or two ahead. Moist soil holds heat better than dry soil, and new plants get the most out of it. The rest of the freeze prep is in our post on winterizing your sprinkler system.
A couple of inches of mulch over the bed holds moisture and keeps the soil temperature steadier through winter. Keep it pulled back from stems and trunks, though. Here's how to mulch without building a mulch volcano.
Get It on the Calendar
If you've got a bed that needs filling in or a yard that needs rethinking, plan it now while there are still good planting weeks left. Our landscape and planting crew can design it, plant it and set up the watering so it makes it through its first winter. Get a quote and we'll come take a look.
Rob Dilts
Owner
RD Services
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