The pleasant glow of Yellow Queen shrimp plant.
Photo by L.A. Jackson
If you like pretty plants that are also pretty weird, I have a doozy for you: shrimp plant (Justicia brandegeana). This strange piece of garden gusto shows off long, overlapping, segmented bracts that resemble—you guessed it—shrimp. And a shrimp plant full of these oddities makes it look like an “all you can eat” night at a Lowcountry restaurant.
Inedible yet attractive, the long-lasting, shrimp-like bracts on the common species plants have orange-red bases that taper to yellow or greenish-yellow segments, from which come the true flowers—small, pendulant, whitish tubes that hummingbirds and butterflies simply love.
Want brighter visual pop? Check out the cultivar Yellow Queen, which has bracts that are a glowing yellow.
And just because they are exotic looking doesn’t mean shrimp plants are hard to find. This time of year, they are easy to spot at local nurseries, big box garden centers and, of course, online.
A happy shrimp plant can easily reach four feet high—not exactly a shrimp of a plant! But for small gardens and interior spaces—yes, it can be used as a houseplant—tip pruning will produce a shorter, bushier pretty.
Shrimp plants perform best with well-worked, loamy or sandy soil in a sunny location that receives at least some afternoon shade. They can tolerate drought, but more moist conditions will encourage better bloom production. “Moist” doesn’t mean “soggy” because these plants will suffer in waterlogged soil. Usually, weekly waterings and a two- to three-inch layer of mulch will provide and hold enough ground moisture to help sustain healthy plants.
Generally, shrimp plants are trouble-free when it comes to diseases. Insect problems, if they do appear, will probably be from mealy bugs, whiteflies, aphids or spider mites. But don’t worry about Bambi—shrimp plants are not considered a prize catch for plant-munching deer.
This tropical perennial from Mexico is deemed hardy in USDA Zone 9 and marginal in Zone 8. For most South Carolina gardeners, this means you can leave it outside and take your chances with winter weather or just enjoy it as an annual and not worry about it.
Personally, in the fall, I cut my potted shrimp plant back to about a foot tall, put it in my insulated garage’s southern window and water sparingly while waiting for the new spring, when warming temperatures and strengthening sunshine will set the stage for another botanical shrimp-fest!
June in the garden
• To bulk up for a bountiful harvest through the long summer haul, after veggies such as green beans, okra, peppers, squash, tomatoes and eggplants begin to set their first crops, replenish their nutrient needs by side-dressing the plants with a common fertilizer such as 8-8-8 or 10-10-10.
• Any trees, shrubs or perennials that were planted last winter or early this spring have root systems that are still developing, which means they are trying to keep up with the summer demands of leafed-out plants, so mulch, mulch, mulch, and thoroughly water such new plantings at least once a week during extended arid spells.
Tip of the month
Many summer-blooming ornamentals will continue to flower if spent blossoms are picked off after they fade. Don’t have the time—or desire—to police your garden for pooped-out flowers? Consider growing so-called self-cleaning plants such as lantana, impatiens, million bells, vinca, nasturtiums, cleomes, four o’clocks, portulaca and euphorbia that drop old flowers to make way for new ones. And if you do a little homework, you will find there are newer versions of garden favorites such as begonias, celosias, osteospermums, petunias and zinnias that also include, as one of their improvements, self-cleaning blooms for carefree, continued flowering.
L.A. Jackson is the former editor of Carolina Gardener magazine. Contact him at lajackson1@gmail.com.