Updated October 2026.
What you can plant in November depends on how cold your soil is about to get. In zones 8 to 10, November is prime time to sow hardy annual flowers like California poppies, corn poppies and bachelor's buttons, along with spinach and other greens. In zones 3 to 7 the flower job flips: you scatter seed that is meant to sit in cold soil all winter and come up in spring, which is how perennial wildflowers, milkweed and corn poppies like it. Garlic still has a window in many cold-winter gardens, and cereal rye can go in later than any other common cover crop. Find your zone in the table first; the rest of the page explains each row.
What to Plant in November by Zone
Your hardiness zone and your first fall frost date line up closely enough to plan with. The frost ranges below come from our fall garden planting calendar by zone, which also shows how to look up the real date for your street.
| Zone | Typical first fall frost | Flower seed to sow in November | How |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9 and 10 | December 1 to 15, or rare | California poppy, corn poppy, bachelor's buttons | Sow to sprout. Seedlings come up with cool weather and winter rain and bloom in spring. |
| 8 | November 15 to 30 | California poppy, corn poppy, bachelor's buttons | Sow to sprout, as early in the month as you can. |
| 7 | November 1 to 15 | Bachelor's buttons, corn poppy, California poppy, perennial wildflowers and milkweed | Bachelor's buttons any time this month: an early sowing sprouts before winter, a late one waits for spring. Everything else is a sow-to-sleep job once the soil stays below 50°F. |
| 3 to 6 | September 1 to October 31 | Corn poppy, perennial wildflowers and milkweed; in zones 5 and 6, bachelor's buttons and California poppy too | Sow to sleep: after the soil stays below 50°F and before it freezes. In zones 3 and 4, save California poppy and bachelor's buttons for early spring. |
Vegetables and cover crops follow the same split. Zones 8 to 10 can still sow cool-season greens. Colder zones are down to garlic and a cereal rye cover crop, both covered further down.
Two Ways to Sow Flower Seed in November
Sow to sprout: zones 8 to 10
In mild-winter gardens, seed sown now germinates in cool, damp soil and spends the winter as small, tough seedlings. UC Master Gardeners in Contra Costa County start sowing wildflowers such as poppies in November as the rains begin, and call November to January the best window because the rain does most of the watering.
Timing still matters at the cold end of this range. Penn State Extension's rule for hardy annual seed is to sow outdoors in fall about six weeks before the first frost. In zone 8, where frost typically arrives in the second half of November, that point has already passed, so sow in the first week or two and do not wait for December.
Sow to sleep: zones 3 to 7
In cold zones you want the opposite: seed that does nothing until spring. This is called dormant seeding. Minnesota's Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR), which writes the state's native planting guidelines, times it for soil that stays below 50°F (its threshold for wildflowers) and before the soil freezes. Its guidelines stress that conditions must be cold enough to prevent germination right before winter, and it suggests waiting until shortly before snowfall so less seed is lost to wind, birds and rodents.
The reason to bother: BWSR notes that wildflowers that need a winter for stratification tend to do better planted in fall, while spring-planted seed of the same kinds can sit dormant for a season. A winter outdoors is the same cold treatment you would otherwise give seed in the fridge (more in our guide to stratifying seeds).
To know when you are there, check the soil, not the air. A soil thermometer works, or your state's soil temperature network; BWSR points growers to National Weather Service soil temperature data. BWSR's trigger is a consistent reading, so one cold night is not enough.
Flower Seeds to Sow in November
| Flower | Where November sowing fits | Seed depth | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| California poppy (Eschscholzia californica) | Zones 8 to 10 now; zones 5 to 7 as a dormant sowing | A light cover, 1/16 to ¼ inch | Taproot: sow it where it will bloom |
| Corn poppy (Papaver rhoeas) | Zones 8 to 10 now; colder zones as a dormant sowing | A light cover, ¼ inch at most (sources disagree) | Self-sows hard and can turn weedy |
| Bachelor's button (Centaurea cyanus) | Zones 7 to 10 now; zones 5 and 6 as a dormant sowing | About ¼ inch | Reseeds; on Washington's weed monitor list |
| Perennial wildflower mix | Zones 3 to 7, dormant | Pressed into the surface | Some kinds will not bloom until year two |
| Milkweed (Asclepias) | Zones 3 to 7, dormant | No more than ¼ inch | Toxic to dogs, cats and horses |
California poppy
NC State Extension describes California poppy as a drought-tolerant, cool-season annual and a short-lived perennial in zones 8 to 10. University of California advice is to sow it in fall in mild-winter areas and in spring in colder regions. Select Seeds' fall sowing chart adds a cold-zone option: October or November in zones 5 to 7, after the first killing frost, so the seed waits in the soil for spring. It grows a deep taproot and does not transplant well, so Wisconsin Extension's advice is to sow it right where you want it, cover it lightly (Wisconsin says about ¼ inch; most seed houses say 1/16 inch), and keep the soil moist until seedlings appear in one to three weeks.
Our Mission Bells California poppy is a six-color mix of pink, salmon, scarlet, cream, apricot and golden orange, with 6,000 seeds in the pack. That is more than one bed needs, so in zones 8 to 10 we would sow half now and keep half for a spring patch. Once they bloom, the seed capsules split open and drop seed, and NC State recommends deadheading if you want to stop them spreading.
Corn poppy
Corn poppy is the red field poppy, also sold as Flanders or Shirley poppy. Cornell's growing guide gives two sowing times, late fall or early spring, scattered on worked ground and mixed with sand first because the seed is so fine. Select Seeds limits autumn sowing to zones 8 and warmer. The two fit together once you split the method: in the warm zones a fall sowing sprouts and overwinters, and in colder zones a late-fall sowing is a dormant one. Cornell lists its germination temperature as 55°F. Cold soil will not stop every seed: a Swedish study in the Annals of Botany found corn poppy can sprout at 41°F, though where winters are cold it comes up mainly in spring, which is what a dormant sowing counts on.
Seed sources disagree on covering it. Johnny's Selected Seeds says to plant it ¼ inch deep because it needs darkness to germinate, and Cornell also says to cover it with a light layer. Select Seeds says to surface-sow because it needs light. Either way, do not bury it deeper than ¼ inch.
Plant it where volunteers are welcome. NC State says corn poppy "vigorously self seeds" and "can easily escape from cultivation and has been described as weedy," and Cornell calls it a possible "weedy nuisance," so keep it away from field edges and natural areas. Its stems bleed a white to yellowish latex when broken (NC State), and its flowers carry isoquinoline alkaloids, about half of them rhoeadine, according to a 2017 study in Pharmaceutical Biology. The ASPCA plant lists do not include it either way, so we keep it out of spots where pets or grazing animals browse. Our American Legion corn poppy is the classic brilliant red, 6,000 seeds to a pack.
Bachelor's buttons
The Missouri Botanical Garden says bachelor's button seed may be planted outdoors in fall in mild-winter climates, and Select Seeds' fall sowing chart lists cornflower for October and November in zones 5 to 9, sown after the first killing frost where winters are cold. So zones 8 to 10 can sow now. Zone 7 can sow through November: an early sowing comes up before winter, and a late one waits in the soil for spring. Zones 5 and 6 should wait for a killing frost and sow it as a dormant planting, and zones 3 and 4 do better with an early spring sowing. Johnny's plants the seed ¼ inch deep.
Two cautions. Cornflower has escaped gardens and naturalized through much of the United States and southern Canada, according to the Missouri Botanical Garden, and Washington's Noxious Weed Control Board keeps it on its monitor list (watched, but not a regulated noxious weed). Deadheading cuts down on self-seeding, though it also removes seed the birds like. On the plus side for pet owners, the ASPCA lists cornflower as non-toxic to dogs and cats. Our deep blue bachelor's buttons are a tall blue type with 6,000 seeds in the pack, plenty for a fall row with seed left over for spring.
Perennial wildflowers and milkweed
In zones 3 to 7 this is the main flower job for November. BWSR favors fall sowing for wildflower seed "to allow winter conditions to naturally break seed coats," and a perennial wildflower mix is that kind of seed. Our 18-variety perennial mix, for example, includes purple coneflower, black-eyed Susan, lupine, gayfeather and New England aster. Scatter it on bare, weeded soil and press it into the surface rather than burying it. Expect some plants to flower the first summer and others to spend year one on leaves and bloom in year two. Our guide to sowing wildflowers covers site prep.
Milkweed belongs in the same group. Prairie Moon Nursery's advice for common milkweed is to plant seed in late fall or early spring, no more than ¼ inch deep, or to dormant-seed it onto the surface in late fall or winter and let snow and weather do the conditioning. Plant it away from pets and livestock: the ASPCA lists milkweed as toxic to dogs, cats and horses.
Flower Seeds to Save for Spring
Zinnias, cosmos, marigolds and sunflowers do not belong in a November bed anywhere frost reaches. Penn State Extension defines a tender annual as one that frost seriously damages or kills, and its list includes zinnia, marigold and sunflower. Illinois Extension lists cosmos as a tender annual too. NC State's advice for zinnias is to sow seed directly in the ground after the last frost date. Plan them now and sow them in spring.
Vegetables to Plant in November
Garlic
Garlic is the November vegetable for cold-winter gardens, and extension timing for it varies. UW-Madison says to plant 6 to 8 weeks before the ground freezes. Penn State says a good three weeks before. If your ground usually freezes in mid-December or later, early November fits both. In mild-winter zones 9 and 10 the target moves earlier: UC Master Gardeners in Contra Costa County aim for about six weeks before the first frost, which is mid to late October there.
UW-Madison's planting details: cloves pointed end up, 2 to 3 inches deep and 4 to 6 inches apart. Planted too shallow, shoots can start growing in fall, and those tender shoots get killed over winter. Once the soil has frozen, mulch with 4 to 6 inches of weed-free straw to keep the soil from heaving. Skip spring planting: UW notes that warm temperatures and longer days push spring-planted garlic to form bulbs too early. More in our guide to growing garlic.
Greens and roots in zones 8 to 10
Where frost is light, November is still a sowing month for cool-season crops. UF/IFAS's Florida Vegetable Gardening Guide shows how wide the window runs in the warm South. November falls inside every row below except peas in north Florida.
| Crop | North Florida | Central Florida | South Florida |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spinach | October to November | September to March | October to February |
| Kale | September to February | September to February | September to January |
| Radishes | September to March | September to March | October to March |
| Green onions | September to March | August to March | September to March |
| Snow and English peas | January to March | November to February | November to February |
Bloomsdale types are on UF/IFAS's recommended spinach list, which makes our Bloomsdale spinach the one we would sow this month in a zone 8 or 9 bed. The guide gives a seed depth of ½ inch.
A floating row cover over hoops helps a late sowing through the first frosts, and our fall planting calendar has the numbers on how much it buys you. North of zone 8, fresh greens through winter is a job for a cold frame.
Cover Crops: Cereal Rye, Not Hairy Vetch
If a bed will sit empty until spring, a cover crop protects it. In November, the choice is mostly made for you. SARE (the USDA-funded Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program) says cereal rye "can be planted later than any other cover crop that is commonly used," and that it can go in during November or December in much of the country, even into January in the Deep South. Plant it no deeper than 2 inches.
Hairy vetch is often recommended for fall, but SARE puts it in mid-fall, ideally at least two weeks before the average frost. Across most of zones 3 to 7 that window closed in October.
Two spring notes from SARE: some growers chop or mow rye by the late boot stage, before it heads, and after you kill it, wait three to four weeks before planting small-seeded crops such as carrots or onions. Rye acts as a natural herbicide, and SARE says the effect usually tapers off after about 30 days.
Spring Bulbs, Briefly
We do not sell bulbs, so here is the short version. UW-Madison Extension says to plant spring bulbs like tulips, daffodils, crocus and hyacinth once the ground cools to around 50 to 55°F, and up to a couple of weeks before it freezes. Plant them two to three times as deep as the bulb is tall, measured from the bottom of the bulb. Penn State gives the example of a 2-inch tulip bulb going 5 to 6 inches deep.
The warm South is different. UF/IFAS says Florida winters are too warm to give tulips the cold rest they need, so gardeners there plant bulbs that have been pre-chilled for two to four months, plant them in winter, and treat them as annuals that typically bloom once.
November Planting Questions
Is it too late to plant in November?
Not for the right plants. Zones 8 to 10 are in prime sowing season for hardy annual flowers and cool-season greens. Colder zones can still dormant-sow wildflowers, corn poppies and milkweed, and plant garlic and cereal rye while the ground is still open.
Can you plant flower seeds in November?
Yes. In mild zones, sow California poppies, corn poppies and bachelor's buttons to sprout now. In cold zones, wait until the soil stays below 50°F, then sow seed that is meant to sleep through winter.
Can I plant zinnias in November?
No. Zinnias are tender annuals, and NC State's advice is to sow them after the last frost date. The same goes for cosmos, marigolds and sunflowers.
What vegetables can I plant in November?
Garlic in cold-winter gardens, ideally at least three weeks before the ground freezes. In zones 8 to 10, spinach, kale, radishes and green onions, plus peas in central and south Florida.
Sources: Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources, Native Vegetation Establishment and Enhancement Guidelines, Section 3 (2022); Penn State Extension, How Hardy Are Your Annuals? (2024), Growing Garlic: Fall Planting (2026) and Plant Bulbs in the Fall for a Spring Celebration (2025); UW-Madison Extension, Growing Onions, Garlic, Leeks and Other Alliums in Wisconsin (A3785), California Poppy (2016) and Plant Bulbs Now for Spring Color (2025); UC ANR, California Poppy fact sheet, and UC Master Gardeners of Contra Costa County, Sowing Native Wildflower Seeds (2025) and Garlic Part 2 (2024); NC State Extension Plant Toolbox entries for Eschscholzia californica, Papaver rhoeas and Zinnia elegans; Cornell Home Gardening, Shirley Poppy growing guide; Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder, Centaurea cyanus; Washington State Noxious Weed Control Board, Bachelor's Button; UF/IFAS, Florida Vegetable Gardening Guide (SP 103) and Tulips; SARE, Managing Cover Crops Profitably and Cover Crops for Sustainable Crop Rotations; Illinois Extension, Cosmos; ASPCA Animal Poison Control plant list; Çoban et al., Pharmaceutical Biology (2017); K. Karlsson and P. Milberg, Annals of Botany (2007); Prairie Moon Nursery; Select Seeds; Johnny's Selected Seeds.
In zones 3 to 7 and want one thing to sow before the ground freezes? Make it our Perennial Wildflower Seed Mix (18 varieties): 3 ounces of seed that includes purple coneflower, black-eyed Susan, lupine and New England aster, ready to sit out the winter and come up in spring.
