What to Plant

Ornamental and Wildlife:

• Perennials, shrubs, ornamental (clumping) grasses

• Avoid planting cold tender plants like Pride of Barbardos, Esperanza, lantana, plumbago

• Trees

• Strawberries (best time to do it!)

• Winter annuals, including calendula, snapdragon, pansy, viola, dusty miller, ornamental kale and cabbage, alyssum, stock, cyclamen, dusty miller, flowering kale and cabbage

• Early to Thanksgiving: native wildflower seeds like bluebonnets, phlox, Mexican hat, Indian paintbrush, Indian blanket (gaillardia). Also, non-native poppies, larkspurs, hollyhocks

• Early to Thanksgiving:  spring bulbs

Herbs:

• Perennials thyme, oregano, lavender

• Cilantro transplants, parsley, dill, fennel, chervil, summer savory, borage, chives, rue

• Be prepared to cover in case of deep freeze

Food Crops:

• Keep planting winter crops for successive harvest

• Water weekly with liquid seaweed

• Spray cabbage loopers on broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage with Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt)

• Carrots, Mustard, Onion (seed), Radish, Spinach, Turnip

What to Prune

• Avoid pruning shrubs right now unless you see damage

• Okay to prune live oak and red oaks through January

• Okay to prune trees

• Thyme

Prep

• Mulch cold tender plants like gingers, Esperanza and semi-tropicals

• Select spots where you want fruit trees, grapes, or berries to plant in January; for now, prep with compost

• Get that row cover ready! Do not protect plants with plastic!

Tips

• Cut basil to freeze in oil in ice cube trays to use this winter in soups and stews

• Collect seeds from summer annuals to dry and store indoors until next spring

• Take cuttings of tender annuals to propagate in warmth to plant next spring

• Rake leaves into beds to mulch over winter and return nutrients to the soil

• Mow leaves on grass (if not raking to beds or compost) to break them down

• Collect leaves from neighbors to add to compost pile!

• Deeply water new plants; keep new seedlings moist but not drenched

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November