Real answers to your neighbors’ questions, plus what matters along the Gulf Coast as November begins.
Good morning, y’all!
The Halloween decorations are coming down, but the Virginia buttonweed apparently signed a lease.
Let’s start November with three timely tips, two real reader questions, and one smart thing to do this week.
New this issue: a Gulf Coast Notebook, with the drought, Tuesday’s front, the El Niño winter ahead, and why Texas plants trees in November.
Pull up a chair. Let’s talk gardening!
Todd & Sabrina Farber
Garden Guy · Helping Houston grow since 1991
Final fall feeding: ferti-lome Winterizer 10-0-14
For a healthy, actively growing Houston lawn that hasn’t been fed yet this fall. One final meal, not a reason to feed again. Follow the bag rate.
The 3-2-1 for this week
3 things to do: give the lawn its final fall feeding (if it hasn’t had one), spot-treat buttonweed, doveweed and chamberbitter, and review your sprinkler timer.
2 real reader questions: mushrooms in the lawn, and plumeria pots too heavy to move.
1 smart job: pull a soil sample that actually represents your yard.
Inside this issue
What matters going into November
Six things happening around Houston this month, and what each one means for your yard.
Read the full Notebook, plus this week’s Garden Guy checklist and the printable issue
Garden Guy Magazine is free and lands in your inbox every Sunday morning. Subscribers get each issue days before anything goes on the website.
Free. Unsubscribe anytime.
Need help with your specific yard?
If you’re dealing with several overlapping problems, a paid phone consultation gives you about 30 minutes to talk through your situation with Todd.
Get Garden Guy Magazine in your inbox
Real Houston yard questions answered by Todd Farber, Aggie horticulturist, plus what matters along the Gulf Coast each week. Free, and you can unsubscribe anytime.
For a healthy, actively growing Houston lawn, early November can still be an opportunity.
This answer first ran in Garden Guy Magazine, our free Sunday digital magazine (November 1, 2026 issue). See the whole issue →
If you haven’t fertilized yet this fall, choose ferti-lome Winterizer for Established Lawns 10-0-14 and follow the bag’s application rate.
Those three numbers mean nitrogen for growth, no phosphorus, and potassium to support the plant’s normal stress response heading into winter.
This is a final fall feeding, not a reason to feed again if you already did. Skip nitrogen on dormant or stressed grass, and get unexplained thinning or dying patches checked before fertilizing.
Fall timing depends on active growth and how close your location is to its first freeze. Across the Houston area, the average first freeze arrives in early to mid-December, so most lawns still have a short window in early November.
Go ahead and feed if…
- The lawn is established and actively growing
- It’s green and reasonably healthy
- It hasn’t had its fall feeding yet
Hold off if…
- You already fed this fall. You’re done.
- The grass is dormant or stressed
- You see unexplained thinning or dying patches. Diagnose first.
ferti-lome Winterizer for Established Lawns, 10-0-14
A potassium-forward final feeding. Measure your lawn first, confirm it fits your grass, and apply at the labeled rate. More is not better.
Prefer Amazon? Our fall lawn picks are gathered in one place there, too.
Shopping disclosure: This post includes affiliate links, including Amazon, Walmart and Sam’s Club partner links. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases, at no additional cost to you. As Amazon Associates, we earn from qualifying purchases. #WalmartPartner
Get Garden Guy Magazine in your inbox
Real Houston yard questions answered by Todd Farber, Aggie horticulturist, plus what matters along the Gulf Coast each week. Free, and you can unsubscribe anytime.
A reader named Byram wrote in about a large patch of Virginia buttonweed in the backyard, with smaller patches throughout the front and back. Sound familiar?
This answer first ran in Garden Guy Magazine, our free Sunday digital magazine (November 1, 2026 issue). See the whole issue →
Celsius WG is an option for all three of these weeds in labeled warm-season lawns. While the weeds are still actively growing, there’s an opportunity to tackle them.
Mature, hardened-off weeds are harder to control, and results take patience, often one to four weeks. Keep applications away from flowers, shrubs and vegetable beds, and spot-treat rather than spraying the whole lawn.
How to tell them apart
Virginia buttonweed
Low, sprawling mats with small white, four-petaled star flowers. Loves damp, over-watered spots.
Doveweed
Looks like fat, glossy grass with tiny blue-purple flowers. Also a wet-spot weed.
Chamberbitter
Looks like a little mimosa seedling, with seeds lined up under each leaf. Pull small ones before they drop seed.
Our Celsius rate page
The rate card, packet guidance, the calculator, and application reminders, all on one page.
Tough Lawn Weed Kit
Celsius WG, a sprayer, scale, gloves and marker flags: the supplies for buttonweed, doveweed and chamberbitter, gathered in our Walmart collection.
Before you spray, check the weather. Rain, heavy dew and an approaching freeze all matter. Here’s how to pick your spray window.
Always follow your container’s label, including application limits. The manufacturer’s label specifies application by licensed commercial applicators; consult one before use if you aren’t licensed.
Shopping disclosure: This post includes affiliate links, including Amazon, Walmart and Sam’s Club partner links. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases, at no additional cost to you. As Amazon Associates, we earn from qualifying purchases. #WalmartPartner
Get Garden Guy Magazine in your inbox
Real Houston yard questions answered by Todd Farber, Aggie horticulturist, plus what matters along the Gulf Coast each week. Free, and you can unsubscribe anytime.
Mike in The Woodlands asked whether to apply Celsius with rain approaching and the lawn wet.
This answer first ran in Garden Guy Magazine, our free Sunday digital magazine (November 1, 2026 issue). See the whole issue →
Wait for the heavy dew or rainwater to dry, and choose a better weather window. Heavy dew and rain can reduce performance.
The label advises avoiding application when rain or irrigation is expected within 48 hours to reduce runoff, and prohibits application when frost or a freeze is expected within 48 hours. Keep people and pets off until the spray dries.
How to pick your window
After a cold front with showers, wait until the lawn has dried and the next 48 hours look rain-free and freeze-free. Check the day-of forecast before you mix.
Your sprinkler timer deserves a November review, too
Cooler weather means slower water use. Check soil moisture and account for rainfall instead of automatically running the summer schedule.
But don’t shut it off entirely, especially in a dry fall. The November rule is fewer days, not shallower watering: one deep, early-morning soak when a week passes without meaningful rain.
Daylight saving time ends in early November, so give the controller a once-over while you’re resetting the oven clock.
Rain sensors, hose timers and the tools we use.
Shopping disclosure: This post includes affiliate links, including Amazon, Walmart and Sam’s Club partner links. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases, at no additional cost to you. As Amazon Associates, we earn from qualifying purchases. #WalmartPartner
Get Garden Guy Magazine in your inbox
Real Houston yard questions answered by Todd Farber, Aggie horticulturist, plus what matters along the Gulf Coast each week. Free, and you can unsubscribe anytime.
Do mushrooms mean my lawn needs fungicide?
Kari noticed mushrooms popping up and wondered whether that meant disease, and a trip to the store.
— A Garden Guy reader · condensed for clarityThis answer first ran in Garden Guy Magazine, our free Sunday digital magazine (November 1, 2026 issue). See the whole issue →
Todd’s answerGreat question, and mushrooms alone usually don’t call for fungicide. Many are simply breaking down buried wood, old roots, or thatch. Remove them where children or pets might eat them.
If the grass is also thinning, yellowing, or dying, investigate that separately. Lift a small section along the edge of the declining area and examine the roots.
Short, dark, rotting roots warrant a closer look for take-all root rot; mushrooms themselves don’t diagnose it. Send us clear pictures of the roots and the overall patch before choosing treatment.
What to look at
- The roots at the edge of the patch: white and firm, or short and dark?
- Does the grass pull up easily?
- Yellowing first, or straight to brown?
- Is the area wetter than the rest of the yard?
Mushrooms love dry spells broken by a soaking, over buried wood or old roots. They’re a sign of decay in the soil, not a verdict on your grass.
If take-all root rot is confirmed, our Take-All Root Rot Store has what we use. But photos first.
Shopping disclosure: This post includes affiliate links, including Amazon, Walmart and Sam’s Club partner links. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases, at no additional cost to you. As Amazon Associates, we earn from qualifying purchases. #WalmartPartner
Get Garden Guy Magazine in your inbox
Real Houston yard questions answered by Todd Farber, Aggie horticulturist, plus what matters along the Gulf Coast each week. Free, and you can unsubscribe anytime.
My plumeria pots are too heavy to bring inside. How do I protect them?
Betty’s plumerias have outgrown what she can lift, and the first cold night is closer than it feels.
— A Garden Guy reader · condensed for clarityThis answer first ran in Garden Guy Magazine, our free Sunday digital magazine (November 1, 2026 issue). See the whole issue →
Todd’s answerNovember is a good time to arrange help moving those heavy pots into a place that stays above freezing.
Plumerias naturally lose their leaves and go dormant as the days shorten. Once fully dormant, they can overwinter in a protected space without sunlight and with little to no water. Keeping them cold and wet invites trouble.
A garage works only if it stays above freezing. Newspaper by itself is not dependable freeze protection. Make the moving plan before the cold-weather scramble!
Too big to move at all?
Many Houston gardeners overwinter plumeria bare-root: lift the plant, shake off the soil, and stand it in a dry garage above freezing until spring, then repot. It looks drastic; the plant doesn’t mind.
Shopping disclosure: This post includes affiliate links, including Amazon, Walmart and Sam’s Club partner links. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases, at no additional cost to you. As Amazon Associates, we earn from qualifying purchases. #WalmartPartner
Get Garden Guy Magazine in your inbox
Real Houston yard questions answered by Todd Farber, Aggie horticulturist, plus what matters along the Gulf Coast each week. Free, and you can unsubscribe anytime.
Alex asked whether one spot was enough, or whether to test different areas.
This answer first ran in Garden Guy Magazine, our free Sunday digital magazine (November 1, 2026 issue). See the whole issue →
One scoop from one corner can miss the bigger picture. Collect several small samples across a similar lawn area, mix them in a clean container, and submit a composite sample following the laboratory’s instructions.
Keep distinctly different areas separate: front versus back if they have different soil or treatment histories, lawn versus flower beds, and healthy versus problem areas.
Get Garden Guy Magazine in your inbox
Real Houston yard questions answered by Todd Farber, Aggie horticulturist, plus what matters along the Gulf Coast each week. Free, and you can unsubscribe anytime.
