Published October 28, 2026
To protect landscape plants in Georgetown and the rest of Central Texas from a freeze, water them a day or so ahead, cover the tender ones with frost cloth or a blanket that reaches all the way to the ground, and take the cover off once the air is back above freezing. Skip the plastic touching leaves and skip the sprinklers. Then leave whatever the cold damaged alone until late winter.
Georgetown yards should be ready for a freeze by the end of November, and a little sooner for anything tender. The National Weather Service's Austin climate summary puts Austin's average first freeze on December 1 for the 30 years from 1991 to 2020, and on November 29 across more than 120 years of records.
The earliest first freeze in that Austin record came on October 26, 1924, so an early cold snap is possible. Georgetown sits north of the Austin station, so treat these dates as a guide. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension recommends getting freeze supplies in October or November, and notes that most Texas freezes hit between late January and February, so the cover you buy now will likely see more than one night of use.
A hard freeze is the one that kills plants, and it is colder and longer than a light frost. Texas A&M AgriLife's Michael Arnold, quoted in AgriLife Today, says plants can be damaged once the temperature reaches 32 degrees, while a hard freeze, 28 degrees or below for four hours or more, can sting cold-hardy plants and kill the ones that are less cold tolerant.
Central Texas makes this worse than the numbers suggest. The AgriLife Extension office in Travis County, in its page on frosts and freezes, points out that local landscapes are full of marginally hardy plants, and that warm days followed by a sudden cold snap are a recipe for serious injury.
Yes, water plants a day or so before a forecast freeze. The Travis County AgriLife office says drought-stressed plants are more likely to suffer cold injury, and that moist soil works as a heat sink, soaking up warmth during the day and releasing it slowly overnight. Arnold puts it plainly in a 2026 AgriLife Today article: "Well-watered plants survive freezes better than drought-stressed ones."
Water the soil, not the leaves, and do not overdo it. Soil dries out much more slowly in winter, and the Travis County office warns that soggy soil starves roots of oxygen and invites root rot.
Running the sprinklers on the plants the evening before a freeze does not help. AgriLife says sprinkling foliage before a freeze can do more harm than good, because the droplets freeze on leaves and stems.
Cover the plant all the way to the ground, because the heat you are trying to hold comes from the soil. The Travis County AgriLife office says covering is the best way to protect plants from cold, and that frost cloth from a garden center gives a few degrees of protection on a cold night. Blankets work too, but they are heavy enough to crush bedding plants unless you prop them up.
For the most tender plants, AgriLife suggests adding a little heat under the cover. Old-style holiday lights that actually give off warmth can help with citrus, as long as the bulbs stay off the cloth and the plant. Water-filled jugs set close to the plant absorb heat during the day and give it back overnight.
Plants in containers need the most help, because their roots have nowhere warm to hide. The Travis County AgriLife office explains that the ground stays well above freezing on a bitter night while the soil in a pot gets almost as cold as the air, and root injury in a container often does not show until the next growing season.
Marginal perennials in the beds come next. AgriLife recommends a thick blanket of shredded leaves over plants such as ginger and firebush, and a 2026 AgriLife Today article recommends 2 to 3 inches of organic mulch to protect plant roots. Do not bury the plants themselves. A refreshed layer of mulch is part of a regular landscape maintenance visit this time of year.
The sprinkler system needs its own freeze prep. Arnold's list in AgriLife Today starts with draining irrigation systems, unhooking hoses and covering hose bibs before a freeze. If you are not sure which parts of your system are exposed, our irrigation maintenance crew can look it over before the cold arrives.
After a freeze, leave the damage where it is until late winter or early spring. Arnold says to leave dead growth on perennials, bananas, palms and many woody plants, because pruning too early can cause more freeze damage. That dead material insulates the living tissue underneath, and a cut can push out new growth that the next cold night will kill.
A plant that looks dead may not be. AgriLife's advice is to give high-value plants time to show signs of life before pulling them, because live tissue in the crown or below ground can still recover. Arnold's phrase for it is "learn to live with ugly."
Have frost cloth on hand before the end of November, water the beds a day ahead of a hard freeze, cover tender plants to the ground and uncover them when it warms up, and save the cleanup for late winter. CTX Mowing handles landscape maintenance for homes across Georgetown and the surrounding towns, including the winter mulch, bed care and cutback that follow a cold season.
CTX Mowing keeps Central Texas landscape beds mulched, cleaned up and cut back on schedule through the cold months. Get a free quote today.
