How to Grow Flowering Pachystachys lutea Indoors
Botanical Name: Pachystachys lutea
Golden shrimp plant is an evergreen shrub with branching, woody stems. Long, dark-green leaves grow in pairs opposite one another and are deeply veined.
Plenty of sunlight will make Golden Shrimp Plant bloom for months. Photo ©Peter EtchellsThe real attraction is the plant’s magnificent flower spikes, featuring bright golden bracts that grow to 4 in (10 cm) long and last from spring through the end of summer.
These long-lasting, upright bracts give this plant its other common name, Lollipop Plant. (I don’t really see a resemblance, do you?)
Long, white flowers emerge from the flower bracts, opening in succession from the bottom of the bract to the top.
Did You Know…
Golden Shrimp Plant is in the Acanthaceae family, along with the other shrimp plant, Justicia brandegeana. The two plants look similar, the biggest differences are that the Pachystachys has bigger leaves and its flower spikes are held upright, rather than arching to one side.
Caring for Golden Shrimp Plant Year-Round
Prune it back. Golden shrimp plant is a perennial shrub that will last for several years. It’ll get tall and leggy if not pruned back regularly. Prune it back hard to control this plant’s growth — by half when necessary — when the plant starts new growth in spring.
Pinch your plant. Pinch off the growing tips often to encourage branching. You’ll be rewarded with a much nicer-looking plant that is compact and bushy. If you want, you can propagate the stem tip cuttings for more plants.
Repot in spring when roots show through the bottom of the pot. You can keep potting up — into a larger pot each year and allow it to grow into a shrub. But as I mentioned before, this plant will drop its old leaves and become leggy if you don’t prune it back.
Golden Shrimp Plant Care
Origin: South America
Height: Up to 3 ft (90 cm) if not pruned back.
Light: Give it bright light, but keep it shaded from hot, direct sun. If your shrimp plant doesn’t bloom much, it’s not getting enough light. Move it to a brighter location, such as a West-facing window. You can put it outside for the summer, if you want. Just keep it shaded outdoors.
Water: Keep soil evenly moist spring through fall, slightly drier in winter. Its leaves may fall off if the soil dries out.
Humidity: Try to maintain relative humidity of 40-50% or higher. If indoor air is dry, use one of these easy ways to increase humidity for your tropical houseplants.
Temperature: Average room temperatures 65-80°F/18-27°C; minimum winter temperature 60°F/16°C.
Soil: Any good-quality potting mix
Fertilizer: Feed every 2 weeks spring through early fall with a high-phosphorous water-soluble fertilizer.
Propagation: Cuttings root easily. Take 4 in (10 cm) soft stem tip cuttings in early summer. Dip the cut ends in rooting powder, then insert them in fresh potting mix.
