Red Shrimp Plant, False Hope, Shrimp Plant, Shrimp Bush

Description

A seeminglycontinuous display of upright to arching spikes composed of large showy maroon bracts from which the individual pink lipped tubularflowers emerge from spring to fall to year round under warm tropical conditions. This plant has exceptional flower power and makes a beautiful display as a container plant specimen and in mixed container gardens as well as in the garden and landscape. The common Red Shrimp Plant, Justicia brandegeeana, is a heat loving, naturally evergreen, bushy, tropical plant with dark olive green foliage andgrows to about 24" high by about 18" wide. It is both full sun and bright shade tolerant but tends to have the densest branching habit where it receives at least 4 hours or moreof direct sunlight.Provide an average to well-drained, moderately fertile, average moist soil for optimum vigor and flowering. Attracts hummingbirds and the occasional larger butterfly and is an RHS Award of Garden Merit winner. Caterpillar host: Cuban Crescent, Texan Crescent, White Peacock, and Malachite.

In zones 9 the common Shrimp Plant, Justicia brandegeeana,makes a fairly reliable perennial in well-drained soils readily returning from the roots in spring if freezes or hard frosts occur. Where it doesn't freeze back, it can begin flowering in late winter or early spring lasting until fall and it can also be utilized as an outstandingmedium-sized 18-24" groundcover that your hummingbirds will love you for. In zone 8B as a die-back perennial (a tropical that returns from the plant's crown in spring) it often returns from the roots in mid to late spring if mulched but it may be mid summer before it begins to flower again depending on the growing conditions. Outside of zones 9 and 10, it may bebestto enjoy the Shrimp Plantas an annual and if it does return in time then so much the better.

Why is a Shrimp Plant called a Shrimp Plant? The tubular pink and cream flowers that emerge from in between the colorful bracts of the flower spike have stamens for the shrimp's stalked eyes and the 3-lobed lower lip represents the folded around tail.