Shrimp plant needs rich soil and the more water it gets the better it looks. That being said I don't think the shrimp plant is a good idea. Turks caps on the other hand is idea. They can take sun or shade....I know people say turks cap can't take sun but mine get's mid-day sun from noon till 6 pm this one blooms non stop where the ones in full shade only bloom a little.

Thanks Barb. I'll save the shrimp plant for a different area - perhaps for my peony bed.

I second Barb's opinion. My puny shrimp plant doesn't get much extra water, and it's always pretty pathetic. This fall I'll be moving it to a better spot. Violets and variegated algerian ivy also seem to do well in relatively dry shade; either would look nice with turk's cap.

Hmmn, I just noticed the thread title. I meant to type "fruit cocktail shrimp plant". At any rate, I'll save the shrimp for another site.

I like the idea of violets or ivy underneath. I've thought of a few others as well. I think I'll post that in a separate question.

I didn't know about this one. I just read that it is hardy to zone 8a. I only have the yellow "lollipops".

Those of you that have this one, does it freeze to the ground and return or does it just laugh at the freezing temps when they come? How big do they get?

thank you
It sure is pretty and I have a weakness for this type of flower
c

Liz, I never even noticed you had not said 'fruit' on the subject line. LOL!

Cynthia and all, here on the NW side of San Antonio fruit cocktail shrimp plant is just as hardy and drought tolerant as the red shrimp plant. In a mild winter like last year it didn't freeze all the way back where it was against a wall. The tops that did get nipped and fell over kept the stems green so I just left them in place until spring.

Once fruit cocktail is established it comes back very quickly and blooms continually until the first freeze. Well, I take that back. In protected places both the fruit cocktail and the red shrimp flowered all last winter.

It gets a little over two feet tall and is very thick and bushy spreading itself around nicely from the roots, and though you will get a few plants coming up from seeds blown around it is not 'invasive.'

BTW, I never see anything like a seed pod, but some plants have come up some distance from the original planting so I have to assume it is from seeds. Those volunteer plants don't get much water. They wilt, but I'm amazed they survive and perk back up when I think to water them.

It is definitely on my favorite plant list! Incidentally, my 'soil' is shallow black clay over limestome. No bugs bother it and the foliage is healthy and green even when the volunteers come up on pure caliche. Like everything else it gets a few sprinkles of fertilizer now and then.

I purchased one for my daughter last summer. It went thru the winter just fine (North of Houston) and I plan to buy a couple for myself this week after I saw what a pretty plant hers turned out to be. It is full, disease-free and has been blooming for months.
molly

This probably doesn't answer any questions, but I just took a picture of one group of Fruit cocktail shrimps ...

May an Okie chime in with this one? I live just 3 miles into OK! I have a red shrimp that lives outside on the east side of my garage. In the summer it gets partial shade and it blooms all summer long. It does freeze back to the ground in the winter but returns every spring. I now have babies to share with friends. I think they are from stems touching the soil and rooting. I've never seen a seed pod.

I put it outside after giving up on it as a houseplant, figured it could just take it's chances. Well it did just fine. I have now bought a yellow shrimp plant, hope it does as well as the red.

I've never seen a fruit cocktail shrimp, sounds pretty!

I have a number of shrimp plants inground, they do freeze back in the winter, but return each spring. I do NOT have the fruit cocktail one, however, just the red and the yellow. My yellow one gets about four feet tall and two feet wide --- it is gorgeous.

I live in a hilly slope. Someone had red shrimp plant tumbling out of a planter and trailing on the slope. It looked really stunning.

I had no idea that this red flowered plant was shrimp plant until I got up close and inspected it.

(Not exactly the subject of this thread, but in case someone needs an idea for a slope)

My turk's cap, planted last fall, could probably survive with very little supplement irrigation, but I have to water it, to get blooms.

Thanks everyone - I definitely have to find a spot for this plant - in one variety or another.