Cooler temperatures and a bit of rain are returning green to the landscape, just in time for winter to return everything to a dormant, grayish state – unless you plant some guaranteed winter-proof green now. 

Here are some great tips to bring green and a pop of color to your lawn and garden for the entire winter.

Green lawn all winter long – overseeding with rye

The largest patch of green for most is the lawn. Overseeding with rye as the temperatures drop will give a fresh cover of green until warmer temperatures return in spring and your Bermuda or St. Augustine grass begins to grow again. 

Look for annual rye, which grows quickly, or perennial rye, which has a finer, more attractive blade. Spread seed once cooler temperatures are consistent, late October through November, when your lawn is going dormant or after the first frost. 

Not only will your lawn be a robust green all winter, but the roots of rye grass will keep weeds from establishing while your summer lawn is dormant.

Green and a pop of color from evergreen natives

To bring color to your garden all winter, you do not need to remove the dormant plants or even cut them down. Instead, place a few robust shrubs or plants (natives and adaptives) in key spots around your dormant plants. Dormant plants provide a structure that is enlivened with fresh growth.

Here are the plants to filling those empty spots in your garden:

  • Texas dwarf palmetto 
  • Bamboo muhly 
  • Foxtail fern
  • Agaves
  • Heartleaf skullcap 
  • Yaupon (red berries)
  • Possomhaw (holly berries)
  • American Beauty (fuchsia berries)
  • Coral berry
  • Juniper
  • Cherry laurel
  • Cenzino
  • Wax mytle
  • Carolina jessamine
  • Live Oak
  • Frostweed
  • Agave Parryi
  • Bright edge yucca
  • Big muhly grass

Winter vegetables

Temperate central Texas provides opportunities all year round to grow your own food. Broccoli, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and cabbage as well spinach and Swiss chard can be planted for a winter harvest. Plant your raised flower bed or weave these crops in the midst of your landscape to provide both color and food. 

To grow even more and even longer, get frost cloths or portable greenhouses to protect your crop through the coldest winter weather.

Colorful ceramic pots

Perhaps the easiest way to add a pop of color to a winter garden is to add a colorful ceramic pot. Fill it with one of the above-mentioned winter hardy natives or rye grass and even the dullest winter landscape will be pleasing to the eyes.