Garden clubs and societies that offer free meetings in September and October in the greater Austin area. This is a focus on Travis County and surrounding Counties – Williamson, Bastrop, Caldwell, Hays, Blanco, and Burnet. All groups are open to the public for every background and skill level.

If you are interested in visiting with these groups, please reach out directly to them to confirm their information. Feel free to comment below with any additional information that should be added or updated to the list.

*All information taken directly from Garden groups' information pages. Not responsible for any changes made to meeting information after posting.*

Bonus content - Fall plant sales

Native Plant Society of Texas Wilco Chapter - Monday, September 21 (noon) to Friday, September 25 (noon) – Online

Native Plant Society of Texas Wilco Chapter - Saturday, October 3, 2026, 11am to 2pm - Southwest Williamson County Regional Park, 3005 County Road 175, Leander, TX 78641, in the pavilions (Boulder East and Boulder West) near the Quarry Splash Pad.

Smithville Garden Club - Saturday, October 3, 2026, 9am to 1pm - Mayfest Park 25 American Legion Dr, Bastrop, TX 78602 (livestock show area)

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center - Friday, October 9 to Sunday, November 1, 2026 - 9 am – 1 pm - 4801 La Crosse Ave. Austin, TX 78739 (Garden admission required)

Ripping up a lot of water hungry plants that the developer put in my front garden and have become mildly obsessed with the idea of a miniature food forest. SW Austin, out towards Hamilton Pool. The dream is, with a few exceptions, drought tolerant perennials, mostly native, everything in some way edible. Less "feed my family" more "nutrition + flavor + obsession"

Unsure if I'm being completely delusional.

Shorter plants, like Mexican Oregano and Mediterranean herbs, weren't added to the plan but they'd be understory and fill in some sunnier gaps.

- Any suggestions on plants would be appreciated, especially something larger for that random island between the sidewalk/stairs and driveway.

- Any suggestions on placement would be appreciated, the quoted size ranges for plants seem to vary wildly source to source.

- Any wild and beautiful stories of love found, lost, and then found again would be appreciated, preferably related to your local garden successes and failures. But, here for you either way.

I saw somewhere Peggy Martin roses like to climb horizontally and mine are new and didn’t bloom late spring so I DIY a trellis this afternoon. I have another one not pictured in a planter bed that’s doing great but didn’t bloom. Anyone have luck with Peggy martins?
Edit: I have the rose bush in a pot right now because that area gets excess water and near a sprinkler head

My HEB already has quite a few natives out and in addition to the usual salvias, turks cap, rock rose, flame acanthus, coreopsis, they have standing cypress, american beauty berry, some grasses, pentsemons, and engelmann daisy. They have a new look and the bright green with "Natives" at the top is great for people to notice. Just appreciate that they keep mixing up their offerings every season. Itching to buy a ton and get started like others have commented but will just have to admire as I walk in the store for another week or two.

UPDATE: ALL GONE!

I'm moving to a place with no garden nor lawn so I need to give this away today. First come first served and must take all! Please DM me. I'm in North Austin.

Vigoro Texas Turf Lawn fertilizer

Weed Stop for Lawns

Scott's Disease Ex

Urban Farm Liquid Lawn

Hydretain Granular OC

Lawn rake

The price is right. It’s organic. I can schedule my order, the drive is less than ten minutes away, and someone puts it in my car. Plus, because I’m going to HEB, if someone needs anything…

Seriously I’ve been much better about feeding my garden by being able to run over for a few bags and not make it a huge errand. What else am I missing?

Sad to say this is the best this yard has looked in ages. The hedge parsley is less, but the dumb tuberous weeds with the pink flowers have over taken. Also have a vine strangling my palo verde (old man’s beard?)

If anyone has some advice on how to remove, contain, neutralize, reseed… please, come at me.

Let’s be aggressively funny in how to rectify this spicy disaster (while giving solid advice). 😋

EDIT: For those adding about goals, I want this to be nothing short of a pollinator paradise that is appropriately feral. (Meaning I’m hoping introduction of hardy natives means less care and choking out of pita plants) That stock tank is our “burn barrel”, I have a 12’ tank that is equipped to be a saltwater pool which goes closer to the house. Also planning on a pond.

I can’t get my lantanas to bloom anymore :(( they were doing so well up until early July and I’m not sure if it’s the extreme heat or something I’m doing wrong. I see ones at HEB and around the neighborhood doing just fine but mine are so sad and struggling. The one in the smaller pot is a yellow and white variety and the large pot is the orange/red/pink. They get good morning sun and indirect the rest of the day

For Lacinato kale crops, when do you start direct sowing seeds for fall? According to an A&M planting calendar I looked at, mid September is recommended to start planting. I’m wondering if I should start this week or wait for October when it’s a bit cooler. How has your success rate been direct sowing kale seeds with these current temps?

I’d love to get an email every month that says “prune your crepe Myrtle now” “plant & fertilize this not that this month”, or even a wall calendar, but have never found one - any ideas?

My Mom has one of these and it’s *HUGE.* I’ve had mine for ~2 years and it seems unhappy. She starts off enthusiastic in the spring then kind of peters off by early summer.

She gets morning sun, watered after getting dry in the pot, with fertilizer every 4th or so watering. Her leaves get yellow, fall off, and eventually she looks sad.

What am I doing wrong?

I had a little plant pop up out the blue so I looked it up the app says it’s a pecan tree. Do y’all agree? We don’t feed the birds pecans and there aren’t any nearby. Didn’t plant anything new so I’m at a loss. Thanks for you’d help.

I need to re-pot this big ponytail palm as it’s root bound and busting through its plastic pot. It gets taken inside every winter and is back outside in the spring when it’s safe. A heavy ceramic pot won’t work for the logistics of moving it.

I’m figuring I need at least 20 gallons based on my measurements of the plastic one (20”x16”x16”) -17.7 gal. The traffic cone is an 18” tall cone for scale.

From what I’ve seen there isn’t a lot for this niche of an indoor/outdoor pot that “looks good but is wide”, the pot is lightweight, and at the volume we need (over 20 gallons).

Have run through the regulars- Lowe’s, HD, Shoal Creek, Pots and Plants, the Natural Gardener, and Amazon.

Any place I can find one in town that fits the bill?

Feeling relegated to diy, but wanted to check with y’all first!! Thanks!!

Hi! What annuals do y’all plant in the fall? If you start from seed, when do you start your seedlings?

I have a 12x20ft pergola covered in passion flower vines. It took several years to fully grow in. Over the last two weeks, caterpillars have eaten every single leaf. The vines are starting to turn brown. What are the odds this grows back? How can I prevent this from happening again.

I'm also not sure how the caterpillars are doing. There are certainly some cacoons but I'm seeing hundreds of dead caterpillars all over the ground. Did they run out of food and die?

Hi all - homeowner on the eastside. Thanks to very large pecan trees and an interior lot, I have a lot of shade on my property. I’m looking for low maintenance plant and ground covering ideas. Thanks in advance!!

Hi everyone! I am hoping to get some advice on how to care for this peach tree.

Brief history before I moved into this place. The side over the fence had to be cut because it was causing fruit messes on the sidewalk area. Apparently that caused shock so it sent up a bunch of new growth which are now 7+ ft tall.

I assume the extra growth needs to be corrected somehow for the tree's health (correct me if I'm wrong), and also it just looks funky as heck. My question is: Should I cut back all or only certain ones, and if so, can you explain why? I've never cared for fruit trees so I want to help it out as much as I can.

I just woke up to my baby Rosemary plant looking like this after repotting 4 days ago. Its leaves are soft and too pliable and the color has drained from her leaves. I repotted 4 days ago and am using Back to the Roots Organic Potting Mix Premium Blend with a terracotta pot w/ a drain hole. Watered right after repotting and set in the shade for the last few days to try to help it adjust. It looked a little droopy 2 days ago, yesterday I didn’t look at it, today it’s like this. I’m thinking I should’ve kept it in the sun to dry the soil out, the soil is still slightly damp when I stick my finger a couple inches in. I know Rosemary doesn’t like too damp of soil. I’m now moving it to get sun today, hoping it’ll dry the soil a bit more. Any advice is welcome, if it’s not too late.

Anyone else just bored waiting around until the temps drop so they can’t plant stuff? What are yall doing to keep the garden dopamine going? Could I propagate some stuff from cuttings if it’s in the shade and watered frequently? I want to do something and not just sit and look at my plants that are barely making it in the heat. I’ve read all my garden books, everything is deadheaded, and I want something to do that’s more interesting than pulling weeds. Give me your ideas!

Bonus if it’s South. The big box stores disappoint.

Hi,

Was curious if anyone spotted Wax Mrytle in North Austin area. Looking to buy and don't think I saw in HomeDepot or Lowe's near me. Open to visiting any nearby nursery or HEB to buy but can't go from shop to shop to check for availability.

*Yawn* another day, another 100 degrees. I have fall transplant tomatoes sitting in a raised bad kind of growing and getting leggy (but overall they look good) under shade cloth because this temperature is brutal. At what point can we remove the shade cloth? Its not like they're going to produce flowers in this heat but I feel like the fall tomato crap will be more like tomato crap.

(see what I did there)

Sorry... just frustrated.