November is the closing of autumn in Kentucky — the last leaves fall, the waterfowl and cranes pour through, the elk rut winds down at Land Between the Lakes, and the bare-tree clarity of early winter sets in. It is a fine month for waterfowl, late hawks, and the return of the wintering eagles.
Week by week in November
October 29 – November 4
- The full winter community arrives — juncos, white-throated sparrows, kinglets, and yellow-bellied sapsuckers.
- The oaks hold their russet and bronze leaves longest as the rest of the canopy thins to bare branches.
- Harvest frost-hardened kale, collards, and Brussels sprouts, which sweeten in the cold under mulch.
November 5–11
- Sandhill cranes stream south in good numbers, with concentrations near Barren River Lake.
- Scarlet winterberry holly glows on the bare wet-ground stems as the last asters fade.
- The white-limbed American sycamore stands out brilliantly along the rivers as the leaves come down.
November 12–18
- The Leonid meteor shower peaks around November 17, a swift shower best after midnight from a dark site.
- Sloughs WMA fills with wintering waterfowl, and short-eared owls hunt the grasslands at dusk.
- Mulch perennials, garlic, and strawberries to buffer the freeze-thaw cycles, and drain the hoses before hard freezes.
November 19–25
- The storage and holiday harvest takes the tables — sweet potatoes, squash, apples, and fresh-pressed sorghum syrup.
- Wintering bald eagles settle in along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and at Land Between the Lakes.
- The Pleiades and orange Aldebaran climb in the east as the winter sky returns; Orion rises by late evening.
November 26 – December 2
- Most deciduous trees stand bare now, and the native evergreens — redcedar, pine, and holly — hold the only green.
- The feeders are busy with cardinals, chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, and woodpeckers in the cold.
- Country ham appears for the holidays at the indoor Lexington and Louisville winter markets.
Birds This Month
November is one of Kentucky's best months for waterfowl and the settling-in of the winter birds. The wetlands of Sloughs WMA and the western river bottoms fill with migrating and wintering ducks and geese — mallards, gadwall, wigeon, pintail, shovelers, green-winged teal, ring-necked ducks, and Canada and snow geese — and the diving ducks gather on the big lakes. Sandhill cranes stream south over the state in good numbers, their bugling calls carrying from high overhead, with concentrations near Barren River Lake.
At the feeders the full winter cast is in place: dark-eyed juncos, white-throated sparrows, cardinals, chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, and woodpeckers, with purple finches and pine siskins in irruption years. The wintering bald eagles return to Land Between the Lakes and the open rivers, and short-eared owls and northern harriers begin hunting the grasslands at dusk. Stock the feeders now; the birds will rely on them through the cold to come.
What's Blooming
November all but ends the Kentucky bloom, but a few flowers linger and the dormant landscape takes on its winter character. Native witch-hazel still carries its thread-like yellow flowers in the woods early in the month, the last native shrub in bloom. A few late asters and a stray goldenrod may persist on sheltered south-facing banks until the hard freezes, and garden mums and pansies hold their color through the early cold snaps.
What the landscape offers now is structure and the brilliant fruits. The scarlet berries of winterberry holly glow on the bare stems in the wet ground, American holly reddens in the southern woods, the hawthorns, sumacs, and wild rose hips hang on the fencerows, and the tan, sculptural seed heads of the prairie wildflowers — goldenrod, ironweed, coneflower, and the grasses — stand through the first snows on the reclaimed grasslands. This is when Kentucky gardeners turn to planning and to forcing paperwhites and amaryllis indoors.
Garden This Month
November is the garden's shutdown month in Kentucky. Harvest the frost-hardened crops that have sweetened in the cold — kale, collards, Brussels sprouts, leeks, carrots, parsnips, and turnips can be cut into and beyond December under a thick mulch of straw or leaves. Pull and compost the spent plants, clear the beds, and mulch the perennials, garlic, and strawberries to buffer the freeze-thaw cycles that heave Kentucky's heavy soils.
There's still a window early in the month to plant garlic and dormant trees, shrubs, and bare-root fruit while the soil holds warmth. Drain and store hoses and shut off outdoor water lines before the hard freezes, clean and oil tools for storage, and shred the abundant fallen leaves for mulch and compost — Kentucky's leaf fall is a free soil-building resource. Protect tender figs, container plants, and marginal perennials, and do the final mowing of the cool-season lawn. Then the kitchen-table planning season begins.
Zone 6a (the eastern mountains & Cumberland Plateau): the garden is shutting down under the first hard freezes — finish mulching the overwintering greens and garlic, drain and store hoses and irrigation, and protect any tender perennials and figs before the harder mountain cold arrives.
Zone 6b (central Kentucky & the Bluegrass): there's still time to plant garlic early in the month and to harvest frost-sweetened kale, collards, and root crops under mulch. Mulch perennial beds, plant dormant trees and shrubs, and finish the fall cleanup around Lexington and Louisville.
What's at the Farmers Market
November shifts Kentucky's markets to the storage and holiday harvest as the outdoor season winds down. The keeping crops dominate: sweet potatoes, winter squash, pumpkins, potatoes, storage onions, garlic, carrots, beets, turnips, cabbage, and the frost-sweetened greens, Brussels sprouts, and collards. The apples remain excellent from cold storage, and fresh cider is on the tables for the Thanksgiving season.
The indoor winter markets in Lexington and Louisville take over as the open-air markets close, and the heritage Kentucky staples appear for the holidays — country ham, fresh-pressed sorghum syrup from the fall cane harvest, honey, eggs, and home-canned preserves. Choose firm, heavy winter squash and pumpkins with intact stems and store them cool and dry; keep apples and roots cold and humid, and sweet potatoes warm and dry. These cured and stored crops will carry the kitchen through the cold months ahead.
Night Sky This Month
November's long, dark, often clear nights and falling humidity make for some of the year's best stargazing in Kentucky, and the bare trees open up the views. The dark-sky destinations — the Red River Gorge overlooks, Land Between the Lakes with its Golden Pond Observatory, and Bernheim Forest — are crisp and clear now, and the early sunsets mean you don't have to stay up late.
The autumn constellations fill the evening — the Great Square of Pegasus and Andromeda with its galaxy ride high — while the brilliant winter sky returns in the east: the Pleiades and orange Aldebaran in Taurus climb, and Orion rises by late evening. The Leonid meteor shower peaks around November 17, a swift shower that occasionally surges, best after midnight from a dark site. There's also the minor Northern Taurid shower, known for bright fireballs. The printable Kentucky night-sky guide lists this year's exact Leonid peak timing, Moon phase, and planet positions for your county.
Butterflies & Pollinators
November closes the Kentucky butterfly year. On the warmest, sunniest afternoons early in the month, a few hardy butterflies may still appear — an overwintering mourning cloak, eastern comma, or question mark basking on a sun-warmed trunk, or a late sulphur or cabbage white over a sheltered field — but the hard freezes quickly end the flying season for the year.
The summer's butterflies are now settling into their overwintering forms across the Kentucky landscape. The monarchs have nearly all reached or are completing their journey to the oyamel fir forests of central Mexico. The species that winter here are tucking in: mourning cloaks, commas, and question marks wedge behind loose bark and into woodpiles and outbuildings as adults; the swallowtails — eastern tiger, spicebush, and the pawpaw-tied zebra — hang as chrysalises on stems and bark; and others overwinter as eggs or caterpillars in the leaf litter. Leaving the leaves and standing stems undisturbed shelters them through the cold to come.
What to plant for them is in the Kentucky native plants guide
Trees This Month
November is the bare-down of the Kentucky forest. The last color falls — the oaks hold their russet and bronze leaves longest, the tulip poplars and hickories drop their gold, and the late willow oaks and beeches turn coppery as the canopy thins to bare branches. By mid-month most of the deciduous trees stand bare, and the structure of the woods becomes legible again.
The white-limbed American sycamore stands out brilliantly along every river and stream, the easiest tree to name in the November landscape, and the native evergreens — eastern redcedar in the Bluegrass fencerows, shortleaf and Virginia pines on the eastern ridges, and American holly in the southern woods — hold the only green. Young white oaks and beeches keep their tan, papery marcescent leaves rattling on the branch into winter. The persistent fruits — crabapples, hawthorns, sumac, and holly — and the last acorns feed the deer, turkeys, and winter birds as the cold sets in.
The Kentucky native plants guide covers what grows with them
Weather & Daylight
Across Kentucky, a typical November day averages a high near 57°F and a low near 35°F, with about 3.5 inches of precipitation — statewide averages from the 1991–2020 U.S. climate normals.
Cool and bare, high-50s days fading fast into mid-30s nights, with steady rains signaling winter's approach.
| Average high | 57°F |
|---|---|
| Average low | 35°F |
| Precipitation | 3.5 in |
| Sunrise (mid-month) | 7:19 ET |
| Sunset (mid-month) | 17:29 ET |
Figures are statewide averages over the 1991–2020 U.S. climate normals; local conditions vary with elevation and distance from the coast. Sunrise and sunset are computed for a midstate point on the 15th (ET).
Next month's version of this page, by email
One short note when Kentucky's next month turns — what's arriving, blooming, and worth a night outside.
Go deeper with the Kentucky guides
The complete Kentucky birding, native-plant, and night-sky references — or the whole year, week by week, in one book.
Same month elsewhere: November in Louisiana · November in Maine · November in Maryland