How to Care for Your Plants in the Fall & Winter as the Seasons Change

Written by Kelsey W.

Southern California residents often enjoy year-round sunshine and weather that makes it easy to grow all sorts of diverse plants, from native beauties like California lilacs to gorgeously huge rose bushes.

It’s true that only a scattering of trees in Southern California will change colors in the fall, and most of the region won’t get any snow. However, most of the plants that surround us still require that we modify our routines for things like watering, trimming, and general care.

As we march toward shorter days and cooler weather, let’s discuss how to ensure the health and continued well-being of our garden plants, and how to make sure we avoid overdoing it this season when many of our plants want nothing more than some rest and relaxation during the cooler months.

Change the Watering Schedule for Your Garden

If you have a drip line set up for your garden, or you have a sprinkler system delivering water every so often to your plants, you may want to change the watering frequency as the days get shorter and the weather cools down.

Popular SoCal plants like cactuses and succulents can go quite a long time during the cooler months without getting any water at all. Unless there’s a random heat wave in November (and let’s face it, we can have a heat wave at almost any time!), you can reduce your watering schedule for succulents and cactuses to once every three or four weeks.

Yes, you can actually water cactuses once a month in the winter, and they’ll do just fine. In fact, if you try to water them any more often than a few times a month, you might actually overwater them and cause them to get waterlogged and die.

And the same advice goes for almost all plants in the winter. It’s ridiculously easy to overwater plants in the winter and cause problems like root rot and premature death. If you notice that your houseplants are starting to drop their new, fresh leaves, there’s a good chance you’re watering too often.

Here are some signs that you’re overwatering plants:

1. The tips of the leaves start to turn brown.
2. All the leaves are dropping, whether they’re new or old.
3. Moss starts to grow around the base of the plant.
4. The stems and roots of the plants feel slimy and mushy.
5. The plants begin to smell as if they’re rotting.

And for your outdoor plants, remember that Southern California does tend to get some rain randomly throughout the winter. Remember to shut off your sprinklers when there’s rain in the forecast or take a break with the watering can if your outdoor plants got a recent soaking from mother nature.

Visit Plants with Pruning Shears in the Late Fall and Winter

Timing is quite important when it comes to trimming your plants, and pruning is a necessary part of caring for your plants. Sure, you might assume it’s best to just let your plants grow with wild abandon each year, but pruning is actually beneficial, especially during the slow fall and winter seasons.

Pruning can definitely improve the aesthetic quality of your plants, but that’s just part of the benefit. The act of cutting back certain plants can help maximize the area of the plant that reaches the sun, especially when you’re pruning multiple plants that stand next to one another.

For trees in particular, pruning can help more sunlight reach into the inner branches of the tree and encourage the growth of more flowers, which may end up producing a greater bounty of fruit if your tree is a fruit-bearing kind. 

Some of the plants you might have growing in your garden that will benefit from fall and winter pruning include roses, fruit trees, hydrangea plants, and most shrubs. For the roses, make sure they’re not in bloom when you take your pruning sheers to their canes. 

For the hydrangeas, you’ll also want to make some snips when they’re taking a break from blooming, sometimes in the late fall, but you might find yourself pruning all the way at the end of winter. Realistically, most anything in your yard that has a slow season and looks like it stops growing entirely is ripe for a trim.

You can also make some cuts to the shrubs in your lawn around the time of the “fall back” time change, which should help them maintain a nice shape throughout the season. Just avoid cutting back any plant where you see little buds appearing since that’s new spring growth, and you’ve waited too long!

Relocate and Repot Plants While They’re Sleeping

Even when the weather is mild, and the sun remains warm, many plants will go through a quiet phase where they don’t really engage in any significant growth. They might stop flowering if they normally produce flowers, or they might not grow any new leaves or branches.

During these times, the plant is effectively sleeping or resting and often gathering its strength for the upcoming growing season when it will need to put all its effort into taking advantage of the springtime. Before the growing season arrives, therefore, is the perfect time to repot and reposition your plants.

Some houseplants can get incredibly testy when you try to repot them, so waiting for the opportune time can mean the difference between a plant that survives repotting and a plant that completely rebels and just decides to drop all its leaves in protest.

Use the fall and winter to repot your houseplants, especially those where you’ve purchased a beautiful new decorative pot or that have outgrown their current pot. You can use the repotting to freshen up the soil, too, with new potting mix that contains fresh nutrients the plant can use in the coming spring.

You can also use the quiet seasons to conduct some rearranging of the plants in your yard. Maybe you’ve decided that your jade plants don’t get enough sun in the corner of your lawn, and you’d like to put them closer to the other side. 

Moving them in the cooler seasons is best because they’re just sort of hanging out there, waiting for the warmer months and the growing season, and they won’t really mind a change of scenery.

Don’t Forget the Indoor Plants When It Gets Darker Earlier

Consider relocating your indoor plants, too, when the sun changes its arc across the sky, and there are fewer hours of daylight. You might need to switch your houseplants to a more southerly-facing window so they get enough sunlight in the winter. 

You can even start to put them on a balcony or outside for a few hours during the day if you’re having some trouble getting a spot inside your home that gets enough sunlight. Just remember to bring them inside at night if you’re dealing with plants that are particularly sensitive to temperature changes, like tropical plants or ferns.

If you’re worried about forgetting your plants on the balcony until after dark, set a reminder on your phone that will prompt you to check on your plant friend and bring it back inside. Just try to avoid putting houseplants outside when it’s less than 50 degrees outside. 

Even if they’re normally hardy enough to survive the temperatures, they might not be used to those temperatures as a resident inside your home. You can shock a plant by switching its temperature too fast. If the air temperature really is cool, just err on the side of positioning the plant right in front of a bright window rather than outside.

Greet the Fall with Help from Green Thumb Nursery

Learn what your plants need to thrive in the fall and survive the winter with help from the experts at Green Thumb Nursery. We can help you create a beautiful outdoor space for your home, whether you’re interested in a complete renewal of your garden or just a few new plants for your balcony. Drop by one of our Southern California garden centers today for some help and new ideas for the season.

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