We’re almost to the finish line: The long, hot summer will be over soon, and fall will officially arrive later this month.

You may be itching to replace those warm-season landscape plants that have gone crispy in the summer sun. But some plants are still chugging along, and as we all know, the heat and humidity can be slow to give way to cool fall air in Louisiana. So it’s not time for a complete garden overhaul yet. You’ll need to wait until late October or early November to plant cool-season staples like violas, pansies and petunias.

What to do in the meantime? For sunny locations, you have three excellent options to get you through this transitional season: marigolds, zinnias and crotons. They’re what we call “shoulder crops” — those that help ease the landscape from one season into the next. All three of these plants are easy to come by, and as a bonus, they give you the chance to incorporate autumnal colors of yellow, orange and red into your garden.

Before you head to the garden center, remove any bedding plants that are past their prime. Leave anything that still looks good. This way, you’ll know how much space you have to work with. As you pull up plants, take note of their sizes and locations in the bed. Are they shorter plants in the front of the bed, tall ones toward the back or somewhere in the middle? This is important information that will help you pick the right replacement plants.

Let’s start with marigolds. For fall color at the front of a bed, French marigolds are a great choice. They grow in short mounds that produce numerous small flowers in shades ranging from light yellow and gold to orange to rusty red.

If you need something taller, try African marigolds. With a similar color palette, larger flowers and a more upright growth habit, African marigolds stand two to three times higher than their French counterparts.

As for zinnias, branching cultivars such as Profusion and Zahara can be used to add short, dense color to the front of a bed. They grow into tidy mounds of bright flowers and don’t need deadheading, or clipping off faded flowers to clean up the plant’s appearance and spur additional growth.

Old-fashioned cutting zinnias can bring height and color to the back of a bed. These types of zinnias benefit from regular deadheading. For the bed middle, Zesty zinnias — a newer cultivar and a Louisiana Super Plant — combine the large flowerheads of cutting zinnias with a shorter, branched form that does fine without deadheading.

To fill larger spaces in the landscape, opt for crotons. These tropical foliage plants are ubiquitous in the fall; you may have seen them for sale at florists in addition to retail garden centers. They’re perfectly at home as a bedding plant, too, adding eye-catching, multicolored variegation. You can also grow crotons in locations with only partial sun, although the colors and variegation will be muted.

Be sure to place fresh mulch around your newly planted marigolds, zinnias and crotons to help with moisture retention and root insulation.

None of these selections will last through the winter — but for shoulder crops, that’s not the goal. They’re simply a way to enjoy rejuvenated color in the landscape as we await cooler fall days.

Vibrant marigolds, zinnias and crotons offer a way to refresh the late-summer garden as we prepare to transition into fall. Photo by Randy LaBauve/LSU AgCenter

Crotons are tropical plants with multicolored, variegated foliage that exudes autumn vibes. Photo by Randy LaBauve/LSU AgCenter

Marigolds are a great choice for adding fall color to the landscape. Photo by Randy LaBauve/LSU AgCenter

Zesty zinnias are a Louisiana Super Plant and an excellent fall shoulder crop option. Photo by Randy LaBauve/LSU AgCenter