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Louisiana Native Plants List: 8 Lively Flowers For Your Garden

Louisiana has a number of terrain types from forests to fields to swamps. It’s well-known for the lively city of New Orleans, but its plants can be just as lively. Different ecosystems mean a wide diversity of plants for this Gulf state. This Louisiana native plants list includes everything from water plants to soaring trees.

cream wild indigo flowers

Louisiana Native Plants List

The colorful nature of Louisiana plants is well known to locals and tourists alike. The Garden District in New Orleans is famous for its many green spaces and the amazing plants that are cultivated there. Louisiana wouldn’t be the place beloved by so many without its iconic colors and textures. 

1. Century Plant (Agave americana)

Agave Americana - Blue Agave - 2 Plants in Big Size

Century plant is also called spiked alow and American aloe. Its thick leaves are a memorable bluish-green and grow upward. Measuring as tall as 6′, the leaves have spiny edges.

These plants take 10 years to mature, but once they do they grow tremendous, 15′-tall spikes that grow clusters of flowers that are yellow with a tinge of green.

This plant is spectacular in flower beds and rock gardens, but it should be planted away from foot traffic because of its spikes. They require full sunlight and soil that drains well and is gravelly or sandy.

Century plant is tolerant to drought and heat and doesn’t attract deer. 

2. Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa)

Butterfly Milkweed Seed Packet Duo (Asclepias tuberosa) Open Pollinated Seeds by Seed Needs

Butterfly weed is a plant that stands out with its bright-orange blossoms that will bloom all summer. It’s perfect for attracting butterflies, including the famous monarch variety, as well as hummingbirds and bees.

This plant grows in bushy clumps and can grow to be 18″ to 24″ tall. Clusters of orange flowers are 2″ to 5″ across for a large burst of bright color. Plant them in full sunlight and in average soil that drains well and is either dry or medium-moist.

These flowers are often used in flower arrangements for their large clusters and bright, sunny color. They can also be used in dried flowers. 

3. Cream Wild Indigo (Baptisia bracteata)

Baptisia bracteata | False-Indigo | Cream Wild Indigo | 5_Seeds

Cream wild indigo is a plant that grows up to 24″ to 30″ tall and blooms with showy, cream-colored flowers in the late spring and early summer. The blooms stay on for about three weeks, attracting butterflies and bees to their interesting, pea-shaped flowers.

After the flowers are gone, the grayish-green foliage is there to keep color in your flowerbed. It will then grow seed pods that turn black in the fall.

When the leaves are gone in the winter, the seed pods often remain, making this an all-year plant that will keep looking interesting even during the colder months.

You can use the dried seed pods in dried-flower arrangements. 

4. Tickseed Sunflower (Bidens aristosa)

Yellow Swamp Marigold Bidens Aristosa Mutica Flower Jocad (200 Seeds)

Tickseed sunflower is a full-sun-loving plant that blooms with bright yellow flowers that are 2″ across. They bloom in the summer and attract plenty of bees and butterflies as well as insects that are helpful to a garden.

When the flowers have gone, there are thin, barbed seeds left on the plant, attracting many types of birds.

It grows well in meadows and prairies as well as close to forests. Expect them to reach between 2′ and 4′ tall. Tickseed sunflower prefers moist soil that drains well, and it is resistant to most diseases and pests and is moderately deer-resistant

5. Crossvine (Bignonia capreolata)

Lịvẹ CrossVinẹ Bignonia Capreolata Tangerine 2 Plạnts, Yellow Orange Color Flọwẹr Outdoor

Crossvine is an impressive woody vine that is self-clinging and covered in showy blooms. The flowers are trumped-shaped and measure about 2″ long. They have different shades of orange, red, and yellow and bloom in the late spring and into the summer, staying for about four weeks.

Green leaves are dark and glossy, staying evergreen in the mild climate of Louisiana. This vine grows to be as long as 30′ to 50′. Many people cultivate this vine to grow over a structure such as a gazebo, a fence, or a trellis. Plant crossvine in either partial share or full sun and in soil that is well-draining and rich in organic materials. 

6. Watershield (Brasenia schreberi)

Brasenia schreberi

Watershield is a lovely plant that grows leaves that lay flat on the water. Looking like tiny lily pads, these plants grow to be just 2″ tall on small stalks that stay attached to the middle of each leaf.

It grows burgundy or purple flowers that bloom in the later summer into the early fall. Its flowers are about 1″ across and each blooms for two days. They release pollen and are pulled under the water after two days, and they grow their fruit there.

Found wild in a number of bodies of water, it grows best in full sun and in muddy, shallow areas of water that are about 8″ to 10″ deep. Perfect for ponds and lakes, they provide food for waterfowl and protection for fish. 

7. Tall Thistle (Cirsium altissimum)

Cirsium altissimum

Tall thistle grows to be very tall- up to 7′ in height. As a native thistle, it isn’t hard to control or invasive like many other types of thistles can be. It has branched stems that from mid-summer through fall will grow flower heads that are pink or purple and that look like pincushions and measure about 2″ across.

From these pincushions come a bushy, bluish-purple flower that lasts about six weeks. After that time, the flowers are replaced by cottony hairs that are easily blown around in the wind. After this flowering, the plant will die, but tall thistles do self-seed.

Plant them in either light shade or full sunlight in moist soil that drains well. 

8. Swamp Lily (Crinum americanum)

1 ọffér x Crịnum Lịly, Ạmẹrịcạnum, Lạrgẹ, Bloomịng-Sịzẹ Bulb - Ạquạtịc B42 by NUMIPU

Swamp lily is a perennial that blooms with small clusters of two to six bright, white flowers that are each 4″ long and have deep-purple stamens. It is an evergreen that has narrow leaves 2″ to 4″ long. Each plant can grow to be 2′ to 3′ tall. 

Swamp lily is best grown in full sunlight and in soil that is very moist or wet, and it can be planted just below the water’s surface. This plant can also be planted in water that is 6″ deep or lower. Grow it easily in shallow areas of ponds, in water gardens, or next to a body of water.

Swampy areas that are shallow often have these showy flowers that stand out among all the green. 

Louisiana native plants list FAQ

Is hibiscus native to Louisiana?

Some species of hibiscus, such as the marsh hibiscus (also called rose mallow) grow alongside roadside ditches. There are other hibiscus flowers that grow well in LA, such as the Luna Pink Swirl Hibiscus pictured below.

Hardy Luna Pink Swirl Huge Dinnerplate Hibiscus jocad (10 Seeds)

What is the Louisiana state flower?

The magnolia tree was designated the Louisiana state flower in 1900. Easy to care for, and absolutely gorgeous when in bloom, the magnolia tree is a beautiful evergreen. Magnolia flowers smell delicious! Learn more about state flowers.

Where can I learn more about Louisiana’s native plants?

Your local nurseries will have some information about native plants, but you can also check out the Louisiana Native Plants Society

Louisiana native plants list
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Adriana Copaceanu is a passionate nature lover living in the country on her dream property where she grows vegetables, lavender, and wildflowers that she shares with the wildlife they attract. When she's not in the garden, she loves spending time with her chickens and planning her next nature project. Check out her books below:

How to Grow Lavender for Fun and Profit: Lessons Learned from Planting Three Hundred Lavender Plants

How to Raise Chickens for Eggs: A Guide to Raising Happy, Healthy Chickens for Nutritious, Organic Eggs at Home

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MaryS

Wednesday 3rd of May 2023

This article has inspired me to plant these gorgeous native plants and flowers in my backyard. What a treat it will be to look out across this natural Louisiana beauty.

John

Monday 6th of February 2023

I live in central Florida and I cannot find any flowers that can withstand our summer rains and soil. Most of the state has a sandy soil but the soil in my yard is clay. Do you think flowers that are native to your state will do well in our hot, humid, wet summers? I've heard you weather is similar, so I am just interested in your opinion.

Thanks

Adriana

Monday 6th of February 2023

Absolutely! Native plants are what you need. Take a look at my page about Florida native plants list.