SHOWSTOPPERS

15 “cool” plants you can grow in Louisiana

Story and Photography by Richelle Stafne

I love visiting other people’s gardens to see what they are growing. It’s especially fun when I find new and interesting plants, or plants that I had forgotten. Even in my own garden it brings joy to hear someone say, “Ooh, what’s that plant?” Included here are 15 “cool” plants that can be grown in Louisiana in the ground or in a container.

We love our Gulf shrimp, but that’s not the only shrimp you can love. Shrimp plant (Justicia brandegeeana) is available in several colors. Depending on variety, they are hardy in Zones 8-11, with some of the less-hardy varieties returning from the roots each spring. In the northern limits of hardiness, try growing this unique plant in a container that can be protected in winter.

I have been growing shrimp plant for three years in a patio garden in Zone 8b and it will easily root along the soil, allowing me to propagate and spread the love.

Although it may feel like winter, the 4th of July will be on your mind when you include red firecracker plant (Russelia equisetiformis) in your garden. Available in other colors such as creamy yellow and coral, the tubular flowers are welcoming to hummingbirds.

Hardy in Zones 8b-11, the stems of firecracker plant may root where touching soil, similar to shrimp plant. Newly added to my garden in 2017, I expect it to perform as a dieback perennial most years.

Some like it hot! Double your 4th of July pleasure with large firecracker plant; Cuphea ‘Vermillionaire’ is hardy from Zones 8-11. With varied reported hardiness, other Cuphea to try include bat-face cuphea (C. llavea) in Zones 8 (9)-10 and candy corn plant (C. micropetala) in Zones 8(7b)-11(10b).

The large ‘Vermillionaire’ firecracker plant is hardy from Zones 8-11.

Grown as an herbaceous perennial in my garden, butterfly shrub (Rotheca myricoides) is officially hardy in Zones 9-11. Each year it dies back to the ground with a southern freeze, but it quickly grows back from the roots in spring to a height of 7-8 feet.

The common name of Rotheca myricoides, butterfly shrub, is derived from the dainty blue and white flowers that resemble little butterflies. You may find it listed as ‘Ugandense’.

It is likely you will smell banana shrub (Michelia figo, syn. Magnolia figo) long before you see it. I have smelled a single open flower up to 40 feet away. Hardiness is listed as Zones 7-10, although some cold damage may be experienced in the northernmost range.

Bigleaf magnolia (M. macrophylla) is as much fun for children as adults. The giant, tropical-looking leaves appear to be Mother Nature’s own umbrellas. Fragrant white flowers are often missed due to their location high up in the tree canopy. My own bigleaf loses most of its leaves each spring before a flush of new growth and remains only 3 feet tall after four years.

If funny-looking plants, such as bigleaf magnolia, are your thing, you should consider adding a Harry Lauder’s walking stick (Corylus avellana ‘Contortus’) as a focal point or specimen plant. It is perhaps most interesting in winter after all the leaves have fallen. Known for its twisted and curving stems, this shrub is hardy in Zones 4-8 and does produce edible nuts (also commonly named European filbert).

Harry Lauder’s walking stick is named for Scottish entertainer Harry Lauder (1870-1950) and will entertain all your garden visitors. Remove rootstock suckers from grafted plants.

Hummingbird (sphinx) moths are very attracted to white butterfly ginger (Hedychium coronarium); so much so that I can stand still most evenings and feel the moths flying past my ears on their way to enjoy the sweet nectar of the highly fragrant flowers. This ginger provides a very tropical look to the garden and is easy to propagate by division.

Named for the shape of its flowers, white butterfly ginger blooms in my garden midsummer through fall and is hardy in Zones 7(7b)-11.

With tubular flowers similar to firecracker plant, firebush (Hamelia patens) is available in vibrant burning yellows, reds, and oranges helping to create a steamy, hot look in the garden. Hardy in Zones 8-11, these shrubs (herbaceous perennials in their northern edge of hardiness) attract butterflies and hummingbirds.

Pineapple guava (Acca sellowiana), one of my new shrubs for 2017, was also on my bucket list of must-haves. I saw my first one in New Orleans several years ago and was offered my first taste of a flower in the summer of 2017. Both edible flowers and fruits make this slow-growing, evergreen member of the myrtle family a unique conversation piece in the garden.

Be sure to plant as least two pineapple guava for best fruit production.

Two varieties of scarlet bottlebrush (Callistemon citrinus) are available, making bottlebrush a reality for most Louisiana gardens. ‘Woodlander’s Hardy’ is reported to grow in Zones 7-10 (9) and ‘Little John’ in Zones 8-11.

Scarlet bottlebrush is an attractive landscape shrub with flowers that entice one to touch them.

Plumbago auriculata ‘Imperial Blue’ attracts butterflies and gardeners alike. I will soon be trying this plant again, as I successfully killed my first and only plant several years ago. Hardy from Zones 8b-11, this plant should be winter-mulched for protection in the northern reaches of its hardiness (such as my garden in Zone 8b … OOPS!).

Put a little passion in your garden with blue passionflower (Passiflora caerulea). Having grown this beautiful flowering vine for more than three years, I can say it is one of my favorite Passiflora. I do however, grow it in a container and bring it indoors each winter, although it is listed as hardy in Zones 7-11.

To give blue passionflower a head start in spring rather than risking winter dieback to the soil, establish a vine in a container that can be protected from winter temperatures.

I have a thing for tropical-looking vines. So it is no wonder that I am once again in a relationship with ‘Brasiliensis’ Dutchman’s pipe (Aristolochia gigantea ‘Brasiliensis’) after a brief hiatus. I first grew ‘Brasiliensis’ in southern Florida, then Arkansas and Oklahoma. I am now growing it on an arbor with four other flowering vines.

Princess flower (Tibouchina urvilleana) is certainly welcome in my Zone 8b garden, if I could keep it alive. Some sites list it as hardy to Zone 8, but I have doubts, based on personal experience. After returning from the ground two years, my beautiful plant gave up the ghost. If I don’t want to risk a future investment in this royal flower, I will grow it in a container that is moved indoors during winter. ‘Variegata’ is listed as hardy to Zone 8a.

Many folks on the coast grow princess flower successfully, but it is only marginally hardy north of the beach counties.

Next Valentine’s Day, consider the romantic gesture of giving someone a unique new plant for their garden–an interesting way to start a new tradition of love in the garden.

UNUSUAL FINDS

Nurseries carrying many of the listed plants include:
Plantdelights.com (North Carolina)
Almostedenplants.com (Louisiana)
Wilsonbrosgardens.com (Georgia)