Gardening This Weekend: November 12, 2026
Our weather has been pleasant for the most part these past several weeks. To keep us on track with our gardening assignments, here is this week’s list.
PLANT
• Pansies, violas, pinks, snapdragons and ornamental cabbage and kale for cool-season color.
• South Texans can also include petunias, stocks, larkspurs, calendulas, sweet alyssum, wallflowers, English daisies, Swiss chard varieties Rhubarb and Bright Lights, cyclamen, Iceland poppies and other frost-hardy plants.
• Trees and shrubs as nurseries may put them on end-of-season sales. The advantage of planting now is that they can begin establishing new roots over the winter and early spring before next summer arrives.
PRUNE
• Patio plants you intend to bring indoors to reshape them and reduce the amount of space they’ll consume indoors.
• Dead stubble from perennial gardens. There will be more as first frosts and freezes kill tops back. Keep the garden tidy and cultivate lightly to remove weed seedlings before they become established. Apply 1 in. of mulch to lessen future germination.
• Damaged or dead branches from shade trees so that winter snow and ice storms won’t cause them to fall. It’s safest to hire a certified arborist to perform this limb removal.
FERTILIZE
• Pansies and other winter color annuals with high-nitrogen, water-soluble fertilizer each time that you water them. That’s especially important for plants you’re growing in pots, since nutrients drain away quickly.
• Winter grasses (ryegrass and fescue) with all-nitrogen lawn food during this, their most active period of growth.
ON THE LOOKOUT
• Brown patch (large patch) is active in St. Augustine lawns in Texas. The grass turns yellow, then brown in circular patches. Blades pull loose from runners with gentle tugs. Apply a labeled turf fungicide from your local independent retail garden center or farm supply store.
• Apply a broadleafed weedkiller spray (containing 2,4-D) to eliminate existing non-grassy weeds such as dandelions, clover, henbit, and chickweed in your lawn. Do so now, while the seedlings are still small and before the weather turns cold. Read and follow label directions for best results. I prefer to use a 2-gallon tank sprayer with a more precise nozzle rather than a hose-end sprayer.
• Monitor patio pots and hanging baskets for insects that might be coming indoors when you move them inside. Watch especially for spider mites, scales, and mealy bugs and treat now while the plants are still outdoors.