PlantFiles: Golden Shrimp Plant, Lollipop Plant
Pachystachys lutea

This is just one of those plants that once you baby it to health, it will perform to or even outperform your expectations. For months upon months this intensely rare plant for my area hated me and I hated it for the amount of care it needed. Too much water, too much grow light, not enough grow light, etc. When Shrimpy is unhappy its leaves will curl and shrivel, eventually to fall off. Now I water it every other day, and keep it about a foot away from my 120V grow light. I COULD grow it outside when it gets warmer, but the 45-50 degree nights still sound a little unappealing. All in all, pretty plant if you have the climate or the energy. I'll shut up now.

PACHYSTACHYS LUTEA, an
everblooming plant with mounding
deep green leaves producing
conical shaped yellow bracts from
which white shrimp like flowers
emerge.

Native to Peru, it likes sun to
bright shade and minimum
temps of 60 degrees F.

If I had commented on this plant last year it would have been a negative. I had it planted in an area which I considered to be "light shade". This spring I moved it to where it gets morning sun, midday shade, late afternoon till evening sun. It's growing like crazy now and blooming, which it never did last year after I brought it home.

My golden shrimp plant will be going into it's fourth summer here in the east S.F. bay area. I thought I lost it in the 07 freeze,by spring that year it was just a stick-every branch was dead,so was part of the trunk. Not until mid summer did it show any growth. A few times I came THAT close to pulling out the "dead" golden shrimp.
Now,in Dec 2008 it's still in bloom,has a nice globular shape. It's not an easy plant to grow.Besides being frost tender it also has no drought capability unlike its cousin the Mexican shrimp plant. A nice small showy plant for that sheltered and protected planter or corner.

My husband and I picked up our golden shrimp at Walmart in Navarre, FL. It was summer. The plant was in full bloom and stays that way. When we brought it home it was difficult to find a happy spot for it. It prefers light shade all day. No direct sunlight. We have not acquired its favorite watering cycle. To much is bad though. We tried to get more shrimps from walmart recently but they do not have them anymore. we paid only 5 dollars for one plant. it was about 2 ft tall and about 1 to 2 feet wide. He really is tempremental though. I hope he stays w/ us. He is very pretty. (Oct. 10, 2008) we are trying the stem rooting system and will be trying to harvest some seeds.

This plant was given to me by a friend that moved, this plant was not looking good at all. It looked like a tree of sorts but I put outside in late spring, on a completely shaded porch. This grew and bloomed, has done so ever since. I keep it in my kitchen thru the cold winter months. My lollipop is now 6 feet tall and geting bigger and fuller every year, I have 2 years.

I love my shrimp plants! They are thriving in a partly sunny area of my garden, require very little water, and not a lot of space. I just purchased three more that I will try in a sunnier spot along the side of my house. I am starting them in containers along with Scarlet Milkweed, Cuban Gold, and Jewels of Opar (all Florida natives)

I purchased this plant from a reputable nursery of which I have several rose bushes which bloom beautifully. However,
this plant is not adjusting properly. With the summers here being 100 degrees the past few weeks, the plant did poorly. I brought it inside which worsened it's condition. All of the blooms fell of. I have trimmed it back, and placed it outside again in a shaded area. The leaves have fallen off. I do not know what to do. I guess I have a green thumb when it comes to anything other than roses. Is it the Pennsylvania climate? Any sugestions? I am ready to give it away, but I like the plants rarity.

I purchased the scraggly remains of a yellow shrimp plant at the end of season sale at a nursery last Fall. I planted it in my garden and it survived temperatures as low as 28 F on a few nights this Winter with no apparent frost or freeze damage. I used some hay and leaves around its root crown for Winter protection. It is flowering already (early May) and beginning to produce more leaves on the stems which were nearly denuded from abuse/neglect when I bought it from the nursery. I am happy to learn from the notes above that it can be easily propagated from stem prunings.

Started from cutting early 2004 in greenhouse, Summer in garden, bloomed well all Summer. Moved to greenhouse early fall, started blooming again at Christmas time, never stopped, moving to garden again next week. Beautiful yellow in color, will plant in ground again in semi shade. My plant is 4 feet tall,about 2.5 feet wide.

I found this plant extreemly easy to propagate and grow. I live in Chicago area so naturally it is brought indoors before frost and does well(folage) thru winter. I dont have good sunlight so it doesnt bloom until late spring, but keeps on thru summer. I have some in the ground and they also so well but wiildig this fall.

Mine grows under 90% shade cloth in a protected area and blooms all year around. We are in group 9b. This plant glows and is in all aspects far superior to red/pink shrimp plant which fades into the background. The Yellow bracts are quite large (3") and the white flowers give the plant a delicate look off-setting the bright yellow. Foliage being quite dark makes a very stunning plant. Wish it were more available here!

Doss

Grown outside in a pot under a covered patio, no direct sun. In our Arizona heat I have to water every other day if not daily. Holding up very well and in constant bloom. Very easy to grow and I am extremely happy with it. I bought mine from Logees Greenhouse (florist quality).

This plant is very easily propagated by cuttings. Pluck the stem when it's not blooming and plant in a sunny place, and keep it watered untill it roots.

Edit: Ah, inside the flower, there is a very sweet nectar that atracts all kinds of hummers.

It was growing at our home in Kernersville NC very well.

Since then we moved and it didn't survive the trip.

Where can we order it.
We loved them

This plant will stay in bloom outdoors for most of the year in the southern part of Orange County California. I have found it does better in partial shade, especially during the hottest part of the year. It isn’t widely used here, unlike South Florida where I spent much of my childhood. On the rare occasions I have seen it for sale in California, it has been offered as an indoor plant or a disposable bedding plant.

This is a plant I would like to grow here in Northcentral Florida, zone 8b, as I grew it years ago in St. Petersburg, Florida, zone 9b, but unfortunately it is more tender than the salmon and red shrimp plants which will survive in the ground here, if protected.

Shrimp plants do not like salt. It will cause the blooms to drop off and will eventually kill the plant. We have a water softener and we mistakenly turned on the wrong valve to water. We almost lost our beautiful shrimp plant. I added more soil, fertilized it, used a lot of fresh water and waited. Eventually the leaves recovered and the blooms are beautiful again.