Austin does not freeze often, which is exactly why it does so much damage when it happens. Systems and plants that would be protected as routine further north are left exposed here, and a single hard night can cost thousands.
Irrigation first, because it is the expensive one
The backflow assembly is the most vulnerable component: exposed, above ground, full of water, and expensive to replace. Insulate it properly with a purpose-made cover or wrapped insulation, not a towel.
Planning something like this for your own yard? Our team does Austin landscape design, from the first sketch to the last plant.
Know where your irrigation shutoff is before you need it in the dark. Shut the system down and drain what you can if a hard freeze is forecast. See irrigation service if you are not sure what you have or where it is.
Outdoor faucets, hoses and exposed pipe
Disconnect every hose. A connected hose holds water against the spigot and is the classic cause of a burst pipe inside the wall. Then cover the spigots with insulated caps.
Any exposed pipe on the exterior, particularly on north-facing walls, benefits from foam sleeve insulation. It costs very little and it is the difference between an inconvenience and a plumber on a holiday weekend.
Plants: what needs cover and what does not
Established natives generally do not need protection. They evolved here and they have survived worse than you have seen. Tender tropicals, citrus in pots and anything recently planted do need it.
Cover with fabric rather than plastic, and make sure the cover reaches the ground so it traps warmth from the soil. Plastic touching foliage transmits cold and burns it. Remove covers once temperatures rise so plants do not cook the following afternoon.
Move containers against the house or into the garage. Potted roots are far more exposed than the same plant in the ground.
Water deeply beforehand
Counterintuitive but effective: moist soil holds heat better than dry soil and releases it overnight. Watering a day or two before a freeze genuinely helps plants survive it, as long as you are not creating standing water.
The same applies to the lawn. A hydrated lawn going into a freeze recovers better than a drought-stressed one.
After the freeze, wait before you cut
The instinct is to prune the brown material immediately. Resist it. Damaged growth insulates what is below it, and another freeze may follow. Wait until the risk has passed and you can see where new growth starts, usually well into spring.
Cutting back too early is the most common way people turn a recoverable plant into a dead one.
Know your freeze forecast, not just the temperature
Not all freezes do the same damage. A light frost at 32 degrees for an hour affects tender foliage. A hard freeze in the mid-twenties for several hours reaches roots and splits pipes. A prolonged event over multiple days, like Central Texas has seen, is a different category entirely.
Duration matters as much as the low. Plants and plumbing tolerate a brief dip far better than sustained cold, because the freeze line takes time to move into soil and walls. Watch the forecast for how long temperatures stay below freezing, not just the overnight low.
Wind makes it worse for plants by stripping away the thin layer of warmer air around foliage, which is one reason covers that reach the ground work so much better than covers draped over the top.
What to prioritize when time is short
If a freeze is arriving tonight and you have an hour, the order is: disconnect hoses, cover the backflow assembly, cover or move tender container plants, water everything deeply.
That sequence puts the expensive irreversible damage first. A dead annual costs twenty dollars; a split backflow assembly or a burst pipe inside a wall costs hundreds or thousands and takes weeks to schedule during a regional freeze event when every plumber is booked.
Anything established and native can be left. Those plants have survived worse than this forecast and covering them is effort spent where it changes nothing.
Common questions we get about this
Three come up almost every time.
Can I do this myself? Usually part of it. The diagnostic work and the finishing details are where experience shows, and the preparation underneath is where shortcuts cost the most. Most homeowners who do it themselves succeed on the visible work and struggle with base preparation, drainage and timing.
When is the best time? In Central Texas, almost always autumn. Soil is still warm, air has cooled, and anything planted or installed has months to settle before summer stress arrives. Spring works but races the heat.
What does it cost? Any number quoted without seeing the property is a guess, because our two soils, the slope and the access change the work substantially within a few miles. What we can say is that the invisible preparation is where the real cost sits, and where the cheapest bid has usually economized.
Not sure what needs protecting?
We can winterize irrigation and identify what actually needs covering.