Louisiana Landscape Guide: Colorful Cool-Season Plants for Shady Areas

Damon Abdi, Edwards, Ashley, Thiessen, Maureen, tmckeown, Stagg, Jason, Fields, Jeb S.

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Cool-season plants provide some warmth to the landscape as temperatures drop. These shade-loving plants prefer the cooler temperatures from fall to spring and offer a range of flower and foliage colors to get you through winter’s gray skies. For the annuals listed below, make sure to enjoy them during the winter season as they will quickly fade with the rising temperatures of late spring and early summer.

Green leaves on a bush with mottled yellow coloring.

Aucuba: Aucuba japonica

  • Maintenance: Low
  • Form: Round
  • Zones: 7-10
  • Exposure: Shade
  • Soil: Well-drained

A rosy pink flower grows on a bush.

Camellia: Camellia spp.

Pollinator attractor

  • Maintenance: Low
  • Form: Round
  • Zones: 7-10
  • Exposure: Shade to partial sun
  • Soil: Well-drained

A purple flower grows on a bush in a landscaped area.

Columbine: Aquilegia spp.

  • Maintenance: Low
  • Form: Round
  • Zones: Annual
  • Exposure: Shade to partial sun
  • Soil: Well-drained

A purple flower grows in a landscaped area.

Delphinium: Delphinium hybrid

Maintenance: Medium

  • Form: Round
  • Zones: Annual
  • Exposure: Shade to partial sun
  • Soil: Well-drained

Purple flowers grow in a landscaped area.

Foxglove: Digitalis purpurea

Plant parts are poisonous.

  • Maintenance: Medium
  • Form: Upright
  • Zones: Annual
  • Exposure: Shade to partial sun
  • Soil: Well-drained
8/2/2023 9:08:38 PM
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