Gardening This Weekend: September 17, 2026
Fall in New England is cool, crisp, and beautiful. Fall in Texas – not so much, apparently. We go from summer right into mid-winter. Who knows what we’ll do this year, but in the meantime, here are your tasks for the next several days.
PLANT
• Fall color from mums, Joseph’s coat, Mexican bush salvia, Mexican mint marigolds, petunias and other fall color plants.
• Wildflower seeds for spring bloom. If you’re planting bluebonnets, buy acid-treated (“scarified”) seeds for best germination. Sow into lightly prepared soil where there is no competition from turf.
• Normally I’d be suggesting sowing ryegrass seed now for bare ground or for over-seeding established turf for winter green cover. However, unless you’re in the Panhandle or mountains of the Big Bend it’s still too hot. Wait until daytime temperatures are in the 80s.
• Nursery stock as inventories are being reduced, but be prepared to commit to watering by hand every 2-3 days to help the new plants get established.
PRUNE
• Lawn to maintain grass at recommended mowing height.
• Spent flower stalks and seedheads, damaged foliage from perennial beds.
• Dead branches from trees while they are easily identified. It becomes difficult later into the fall.
• Reshape houseplants you’ve had outdoors for the summer. Give them a few weeks to regrow before bringing indoors for the winter.
FERTILIZE
• Patio pots and summer color beds with water-soluble, high-nitrogen food for a quick boost of fall growth and one last round of fall blooms.
• Lawn with high-nitrogen (sandy soils) or all-nitrogen (clay soils) fertilizer with 30 to 40 percent of that nitrogen in slow-release form. Consider this your “winterizer” feeding.
• Houseplants that you have on the patio or beneath trees for the summer one last time before you bring them inside in a few weeks.
ON THE LOOKOUT
• Dead areas in turf are not likely to be due to grub worms unless you can pull the grass up, runners and all. If it’s St. Augustine, it’s probably chinch bug damage left over from the summer. They may still be active due to the ongoing extremely hot, dry weather.
• Webworms continue to be prevalent in Texas pecans, persimmons, and other trees. There is no point in spraying this late in the season. They will drop to the ground as the leaves come down. They do very little net harm to the trees.
• Stinging caterpillars of several species, however, will be present in many Texas landscapes. Some are interesting looking and could be appealing to young eyes. It’s best to teach children not to handle any of them.
• Keep your eyes open for snakes as you work with fallen leaves.