Golden Shrimp Plant is a tropical evergreen shrub from Peru that brings exotic color to gardens and containers in zones 10-11, or serves as a stunning summer annual and houseplant elsewhere. Its common names, lollypop plant, golden candle, shrimp plant, hint at its distinctive charm: narrow white tubular flowers that emerge from brilliant golden yellow bracts arranged in striking four-sided spires. In its native habitat, it can reach 6 feet tall, but container-grown plants stay compact at 12-18 inches, making it especially valuable for indoor gardeners and those in cooler climates. The golden bracts provide the real visual impact, persisting long after flowers fade, while the plant's year-round foliage fills containers with tropical presence.
Full Sun
Moderate
10-11
18in H x 18in W
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High
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Golden Shrimp Plant earns its evocative names from the overlapping golden yellow bracts that form the backbone of its showy inflorescences, with delicate white flowers peeking through like tiny treasures. The four-sided flower spikes have an architectural quality that sets them apart from typical houseplants, offering structure and sustained color through seasons. Container growers in temperate zones especially appreciate its ability to shrink down to a tidy 12-18 inches tall while retaining full tropical character, and its preference for warm, humid indoor conditions makes it thrive on a sunny windowsill.
Golden Shrimp Plant serves primarily as an ornamental, valued for its dramatic flowers and bracts in garden beds, container gardens, and as an indoor houseplant. In frost-prone regions, it's grown as a summer annual outdoors or kept as a container plant brought indoors before cold arrives. Its tropical character and compact size when cultivated in containers make it especially popular for brightening sunny windowsills and conservatories where warm, humid conditions can be maintained.
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In zones 10-11, transplant into garden soil after soil has warmed and all frost danger has passed, spacing plants 12-18 inches apart. In cooler regions growing Golden Shrimp Plant as a summer annual, transplant container-grown plants outdoors after the last frost date when nighttime temperatures consistently stay above 60 Fahrenheit. Harden off indoor-grown plants by gradually exposing them to outdoor conditions over 7-10 days before planting.
Pinch or cut back young plants to encourage bushier, more compact growth and more abundant flowering. Remove any leggy or straggly growth to maintain the plant's ornamental shape. In late winter or early spring before the growing season intensifies, prune to shape and to remove any cold-damaged stems.
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“Pachystachys lutea is native to Peru, where it grows as a tropical evergreen shrub in warm, humid forests. The plant traveled from its South American home into cultivation, becoming valued for its ornamental bracts and flowers. Its common names evolved organically in horticulture: the golden bracts resemble shrimp or candy on a stick, hence lollypop plant and shrimp plant, while golden candle describes the tall, columnar inflorescences.”