What to Plant in Fall in Laredo

Why fall wins

Laredo's first frost usually holds off until around the second week of December, and the last one arrives around the second week of February. That gives a planting window of several mild months on either side of a short winter. A plant that goes in during October has most of that window to push roots into native soil before it meets a Laredo summer.

The same plant set out in March gets a few weeks before triple digits arrive, on a root system that has barely left the pot. Soil is still warm in fall, which keeps roots growing, while air temperatures have dropped enough that the plant is not losing water faster than it can take it up. That gap is the whole advantage.

Trees and shrubs

October through December is prime time for nearly every woody plant here, including citrus, figs, pomegranate and adapted ornamental trees. Get the root flare at grade, check that water can drain out of the hole rather than pooling on caliche, backfill with the soil that came out, mulch the root zone, and water deeply but not constantly through the winter.

Cool season vegetables and color

Fall is when the Laredo vegetable garden actually works. Broccoli, cabbage, carrots, lettuce, spinach, onions and greens all prefer our mild winter to the short, punishing window before summer. Cool season flowers go in around the same time and carry color from late fall through spring.

What to hold off on

Tender tropicals are the exception. Anything that will not take a hard freeze is better set out in spring so it has a full warm season behind it before its first winter. Everything else is better off going in now.