At 10:55 AM 6/26/01 -0700, Ron Rovansek wrote:
>John,
>
>Maybe I can straighten out the shrimp plants for
you - we all know that
>things have to be explained slowly for
Californians. Seriously, this is just
>my take on a complicated set of lingo. Please
forward this to HUMNET, since our
>new email system doesn't let me send to the list
yet.
>
>In Louisiana (where most HUMNETters are)
there is a shrimp plant that is an
>old pass-along plant. It has beige colored flowers
with purple or brown spots
>and reddish bracts (shrimps). It blooms in the
winter. The closest thing I have
>seen to this plant in California is one called
justicia brandegeanna
"jamabalaya"
>which was growing in the Huntington Garden.
This plant is called "Ugly" Shrimp
>plant (or Winter Shrimp plant), not because it is
ugly but because it seems
>to lack to refinement necessary to make it a
popular plant in commercial
>nurseries, i.e. it doesn't bloom all year, it gets
lanky, etc. Otherwise it
is every
>bit as pretty as the plant we call summer shrimp
plant.
>
>Summer shrimp plant looks a lot like ugly shrimp
plant but it blooms in
>summer and has white flowers with purple spots.
This is the shrimp plant
that is
>most common in California, where it is used as a
hedge, ground cover, etc.
There
>are also other varieties which to me most closely
resemble the summer shrimp
>plant. These varieties include one with
yellow-green shrimps, and other
varieties
>with shrimps of various colors.
>
>Justicia fulvicoma is grown by HUMNETters. It
blooms in the fall in
>Louisiana, has more orange flowers and shrimps,
and is smaller than the
previous two
>plants, both of which may sramble to 6 or 8 feet
tall. This plant seems to
>be consistently named, as I have seen apparently
the same plant labeled the
>same way in Louisiana, California, and other
places. there is a similar plant
>which I think is the one Miriam is calling Showy
shrimp plant. It also is
small and
>tends to bloom in the fall.

Ron did a lot to explain our so-called Ugly Shrimp
Plant, but let me add a
bit of history and detail. [Humnetters who have
heard all this before can
delete here.]

On this list, there is a core of people, most from the
New Orleans and Baton
Rouge sections of Louisiana, who have been
gardening for the specific
purpose of attracting hummingbirds for many
years. Among this core of
humgardeners are many skilled and talented
gardeners, but none of us has
advanced botanical education or professional
horticultural training. Some
of us have known each other [and have been
trading plants] for more than 20
years.

Van Remsen created Humnet in October 1996 as a
means for us to keep in touch
[without exhorbitant long distance bills] and to
expand our outreach to the
growing number of people who had a keen interest
in hummingbirds. From that
nucleus, we have grown and changed, but still
southern Louisiana is home to
the greatest number of Humnetters. Subscribership
exceeded 300 only
recently and there are members from Ecuador,
Germany, and Canada. I'm not
sure how many states are represented, but there are
several Californians as
well as folks from Colorado, Arizona, Texas,
Missouri, Pennsylvania, and
Florida. We are united by our keen love of
hummers and by the ardent desire
to find and identify more of nectar sources so that
we can better provide
for the birds that grace our gardens. No one should
feel they are an
outsider on this list. Quite a few Humnetters travel
widely and many fine
friendships have grown out of this list.

That said, let's get back to Ugly Shrimp Plant.
Shrimp Plants have long
been grown in New Orleans gardens. They are not
as popular now as they were
prior to World War II, but they can still be found in
nurseries that carry a
wide variety of plants. One will see several types in
some old gardens, but
the "regular" Shrimp Plant is the one found in local
nurseries [and from
mail order outlets].

A start of this so-called Ugly Shrimp Plant was
given to me in the early
1970s, when I first began a systematic attempt to
use landscaping to attract
hummers rather than relying on feeders. It does not
usually flower all year
as does the "regular" Shrimp Plant. Mine bloom
from mid-September until
mid-April, though this year they have kept a few
flowers into late June.
Those of us who have grown various shrimp
plants find that Ugly Shrimp Plant
is far superior to the "regular" Shrimp Plant for
attracting hummers, though
we do know that the "regular" Shrimp Plant works
very well too. Because
Ugly Shrimp Plant flowers best in winter, it has
been extremely valuable to
us in attracting the numerous hummers that spend
the winter months on the
Gulf South.

I am probably the person responsible for dubbing
this plant Ugly Shrimp
Plant. Many years ago, I gave one to a friend, Ron
Stein. Ron has been a
great hummingbird gardener since the late 1960s.
He is not on Humnet, but
most of us in southern Louisiana know and respect
him. At first blush, Ron
found the plant to be unattractively lanky because it
insists on spreading
and sprawling. It often uses adjacent shrubs for
support and can get to be
7-8 feet tall. Ron said it was ugly - until he found a
beautiful
Buff-bellied Hummingbird using the plant. Then,
he changed his tune.

Among local hummingbirders, we use the term
Ugly Shrimp Plant to
differentiate it from the "regular" Shrimp Plant for
lack of knowledge of
the true scientific identification of this plant. I
know Miriam Davey, who
has taken a botany course or two, has tried to find
out what it really is.
Anything you can add to our knowledge of this
fine hummer plant will be
profoundly appreciated. You will find we are
willing students.

NLN

======================================

Date: Tue, 3 Dec 2002 13:30:16 -0600
Reply-To: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast <HUMNET-L@LISTSERV.LSU.EDU>
From: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast <HUMNET-L@LISTSERV.LSU.EDU>
Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] Buff-bellied preferences?

In season, which usually means late fall through early spring, shrimp
plants
are highly sought after by Buffies. Late spring to Thanksgiving, you can
just
about map the distribution of Buffies by the distribution of native Turk's
caps. While they use many other flowers, these two seem to be the heaviest
used by the species. They will concentrate on Coral Beans in spring in
many
places where they probably will not nest.

Brent Ortego
Buffy Haven
near Raisin, TX

Quoting Scott Knaus <rsknaus@GECINC.COM>:

> I am noticing some interesting things about the buff-bellied that came
> in last weekend. It sure is easy to keep track of a bird that is so
> dominant and vocal. The most interesting thing I've noticed is its
> flower preferences. I have not seen it come to a feeder yet, so I have
> pulled out most of my replacement feeders to try to get it to feed on
> one.
>
> During the day it spends probably more than 80% of its time feeding on
> ugly shrimp plant. It checks out a few abutilon and giant Turks cap
> blooms but doesn't stay at them long - this surprised me. I have never
> seen it feed on any of the cuphea where I can almost always find a
> rufous. Early morning and late evening it really hits the rosebud sage
> hard - during the day this makes up only about 5-10 % of its feeding
> time, but its first few and last few feedings of the day tend to be
> about 75% rosebud. Also, I don't have many Salvia guaranitica blooms
> left, but when it does taste one of these it will hit every bloom
> available (Argentine skies, I have not seen it feed out front where I
> have one decent dark blue plant left). Maybe the other flowers are too
> far out of its territory, but I think if it preferred them it would have
> set up camp near them. Then again, the shrimp plant and rosebud sage it
> is defending are my largest concentrations of any blooms right
> now....who knows.
>
> Obviously, with just three days of observations one can not draw any
> meaningful conclusions, but it is very noticeable to me. Also I'm not
> sure if there is any correlation to Dennis' sugar concentrations or not,
> but if quantity had anything to do with it, I would expect the abutilons
> and Turks cap to be preferred since they are still literally dripping
> with nectar.
>
> Oh well, back to work.
>
> Scott Knaus
> Baton Rouge

=================================
Date: Wed, 1 Jan 2003 13:51:29 -0800
Reply-To: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast <HUMNET-L@LISTSERV.LSU.EDU>
From: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast <HUMNET-L@LISTSERV.LSU.EDU>

> At 02:24 PM 11/18/2002 -0600, Dennis Demcheck wrote:
>
>> Oops. What is winter shrimp plant? Justicia sp?
>
> John MacGregor seemed to think it was Justicia brandegeana. But who
knows?
>
> NLN

When I originally expressed this opinion, I knew the "Winter Shrimp Plant"
alias "Ugly Shrimp Plant" only from photos sent over the net. Peggy Sigert
and Nancy each sent me starts, and now that it is blooming in a pot on my
patio, I indeed can see no reason to believe that it is anything other than
a variant clone of Justicia brandegeana. I grow half a dozen other clones
of J. brandegeana, with flower colors varying from pale yellow through
salmon-pink to deep maroon--all regularly used by hummers--and growth
habits from foot-high dwarfs to four-foot, semi-vining giants, so there can be no
doubt that it is a quite variable species. This is why I recommended
giving it an official cultivar name, 'Hummer's Delight'.

John MacGregor
South Pasadena, CA 91030