Would you be allowed to plant trees? If so, my first choice would be a live oak. Crepe myrtles wouldn't be evergreen, but they do provide seasonal interest and love full sun.

How about some plumbago for those shurbs? They'll stay green unless there's a hard freeze. And they bloom pretty much non-stop.

Pentas are a great perennial flower! They bloom late spring through fall. In fact a few of mine still have blooms and that's after a couple light freezes and last week's snowfall.

Yes, we could plant a tree. I was even thinking maybe a redbud (I love them in the spring.)

We planted a live oak in our front yard with the new landscaping (new house) last year. Because we are older (58), we splurged to get a large enough one to watch grow in our lifetime, and it cost us $1400! So, I don't think I'll be planting a live oak on property that isn't even ours - ha!

I love pentas, but for some reason, mine act more like annuals than perennials? I've never really tried plumbago, but love the way it looks. Thanks for suggesting - I'll add to my list.

In answer to your question on specific plants, Indian Hawthornes are excellent evergreen shrubs that require very little maintainance. I am very partial to Snow White. It grows only 3 feet high, but spreads to five feet, making a very neat and uniform mound. The bloom is icing on the cake, short-lived, but nice. (You may have noticed that pink flowering Indian Hawthornes are highly susceptible to some kind of fungal disease that very often cuts their lives short. I avoid them for that reason.)

Encore azaleas are good ones too. They will take as much as all day sun, though do well with half day shade too. Their bloom in the spring is not as spectacular as the old traditional azaleas, but they more than pay their rent from early August until frost. Mine bloom continually and heavily during that time and only quit when frost gets them. They like a cup or so of Holly Tone once a year. Their only fault, to my mind, is they tend to cling to their brown dried dead blooms forever, but then, so do alot of the traditional azaleas.

I have not grown Louisiana Iris, but I believe they need very moist, if not boggy, conditions. I have also read that they go completely dormant during the summer. Bog irises that I have grown tend to be aggressive, but as I said, I have not grown these. Do your homework.

wodka, Louisiana irises are okay in full sun if there is ample water. They naturally grow in boggy conditions but are fine in normal garden beds as long as they do not dry out. Unless your rough is also wet, or unless you are prepared to water the irises well in a dry spell, some other plant may be preferable.

Louisiana irises do not generally go dormant, although one of the native species may. Not so much the hybrids, though. On the other hand, if they do not get enough water, they may go dormant as a defense mechanism.

Louisiana irises are great plants and not too hard to please. Just thirsty. Also hungry. They like to be fertilized.

You might want to Google "Louisiana iris" and look on the top few sites for more cultural information.

Patrick