Fall Planning in North Texas: What We Covered in September

3 days ago

5 min read

This September was hard on North Texas yards. It set heat records across Denton County, and most of the county went from mid-July to the last days of the month without measurable rain. It is also the month when most of the big landscape decisions for the next year get made.

Commercial contracts come up for bid, HOA boards set budgets, and homeowners finally sit outside long enough to notice what the yard is missing.

That is what tied this month's posts together. Two were written for homeowners and two for the people who manage commercial properties and neighborhoods. First, though, a word about the rain.

After the Rain: What It Means for Your Yard

Denton Enterprise Airport went 76 days without measurable rain this summer, and by September 27 we had hit 100 straight days at 90 degrees or hotter. Then the storms that started September 30 flooded streets in Lewisville and Flower Mound. It was welcome, but one storm does not undo a summer like that. Here is what I am seeing in yards right now and what to do about it.

Most of that water ran off. Clay that has been dry and cracked since July sheds a hard rain instead of soaking it up. The top few inches are wet now, but the soil deeper down may still be dry, so the drought is not over for your trees.
Turn the sprinklers off for now. Wet clay holds water for days. Push a long screwdriver into the lawn, and if it slides in easily, skip watering. If your system ran during the storm, your rain sensor needs a look.
The lawn will show you what survived. Grass that went brown to ride out the heat should green up over the next week or two. Spots that stay brown are likely dead and worth planning around this fall.
Winter weeds are next. Rain plus cooler nights is exactly what henbit and annual bluegrass have been waiting for. If you have not put down a pre-emergent yet, do it now.
Watch St. Augustine for large patch. Wet soil and cooling nights are the setup for those brown rings. Water early in the morning, and only when the lawn actually needs it.
Give stressed plants time. Drought kills a lot of the fine roots that pull in water, so shrubs and trees can look rough for a few weeks even with wet ground. Scratch a stem on a shrub that looks dead. Green under the bark means it is still alive. Big trees in soaked clay also lose some grip, so keep an eye on dead limbs over the roof, driveway, or play areas.
Expect some movement. Clay swells as it takes on water. After a summer of shrinking, it is common to see pavers shift, joints open, or new cracks in patios and walkways over the next few weeks.
Wait a few days before digging. The rain finally makes the ground workable for fall planting, but working soaked clay packs it down. Give it a few dry days, then plant.

The good news is that the rain makes everything in this month's posts easier to start, from replanting a tired bed to building a patio.

For Homeowners: Start the Fall Project Now

Fall is the best season of the year to build and plant in North Texas. The weather works for the crew and for the plants, and anything you start now is ready to use by winter or settled in by spring.

Planning an Outdoor Living Space in Argyle

Argyle is the one city we serve where two houses ten minutes apart can need completely different patio plans. On the smaller lots in Harvest and Canyon Falls, you are working around a fence line, a neighbor's window, and HOA review. On the acreage side of town, you are working around septic spray fields, big oaks with wide root zones, and the cost of running power and gas out to the spot with the best view.

Read planning an outdoor living space in Argyle for what to sort out before anything gets drawn. If you are pricing a project, what a paver patio costs in Highland Village breaks down what moves the number, and outdoor kitchen ideas for Lewisville is worth a look if cooking outside is part of the plan. You can also see our outdoor living and hardscape work.

Your Lake Dallas Landscape Is Probably 20 Years Old

A big share of Lake Dallas homes went up in the early 2000s, and a lot of those builder landscapes are showing their age. Shrubs have grown over the windows, beds that used to get full sun are now under a tree, and the clean edges have wandered.

Our Lake Dallas landscape renovation post covers how to tell what is worth saving, what to pull, and why October beats May for replanting. The same heavy clay sits under most yards in this area, so the best plants for Flower Mound's clay soil applies here too. When you are ready to start, our landscape and planting services cover anything from one bed to a full redesign.

For Property Managers and HOA Boards: Get Ahead of Next Year

Commercial contracts and association budgets both get decided in the fall. Waiting until January usually means another year with the same contractor and the same problems.

When to Bid Out Your Commercial Landscape Contract in Flower Mound

If your contract runs on the calendar year, September is for preparing and October is for sending out bids. That timeline gets a new crew started January 1, with three months to learn the property before spring growth hits.

When to bid out your commercial landscape contract lays out the full schedule, how to write a scope so the bids are actually comparable, and what to ask about irrigation, backflow testing, and licensing before you sign.

What HOA Boards Should Know About Common Area Landscaping

Nobody lives on a common area, so problems there go unnoticed longer than anywhere else. The most expensive one is an irrigation leak running for months on a shared meter before anyone connects it to the water bill.

What HOA boards should know about common area landscaping covers that, along with entry monuments, trail frontage, sightlines at intersections, and the questions to ask before your board signs next year's contract. Both of these posts come back to irrigation, and why one sprinkler zone stops working explains how we track down the most common problem we find. For more on how we work with associations and commercial sites, see our commercial landscape maintenance page.

What These Posts Have in Common

Every one of them comes back to timing. The best patio, the best replant, and the best contract all start with a conversation in early fall, before the schedule fills and before budgets lock in.

If you have a project in mind for this season, get a quote and we will come walk it with you. We work across Lewisville, Flower Mound, Highland Village, Lake Dallas, Corinth, and Argyle.