With St. Patrick ’s Day sneaking up on us quickly , I thought it would be the staring time to talk about growing shamrocks , or Oxalis .
These terrific plants should n’t be grow only for their significance to St. Patrick ’s Day , though the commons - leaved , livid - flowered varieties are a common sight at efflorescence shop and grocery stores in March . There are heaps of dissimilar cultivated varieties of Oxalis that make corking garden and container plants . Some species are hardy in stale clime , but most are not . Non - hardy diversity are typically grown as yearly or overwintered indoors .
Also have it off as Sir Henry Wood sorrel , Oxalis plants grow from bulb and prefer fond tincture during hot afternoon summers . They also like uprise in well - drain territory . They number in a broad range of unique foliage colors and can add a draw of pizzaz to the garden .
Choosing Shamrock Varieties
One of my pet decorative Oxalis variety isO. regnelliiTriangularis . This beautiful plant has three - lobed , inch - wide leafage that are a bass purple with brighter - purple centers . The light - garden pink blossom stand up above the leafage , making it a great choice for fishy recession and container . Silverado is another lovely cultivar with silvery foliage edged in deep honey oil . The flowers on this variety are white . One called Iron Cross has leaves with four lobe that are fleeceable with a dark - crimson center . And , of grade , there are many other varieties that might strike your fancy .
Overwintering Shamrocks Indoors
Here in myhardiness - zone-5garden , the Oxalis varieties I spring up are not audacious , so I have to overwinter the plants indoors . Sometimes I do this by develop the shamrock as a houseplant on a sunny windowsill . After a few calendar week of indoor growing , the industrial plant will need to shift into a dormancy period .
The dormancy period is necessary for the plants to deliver to leaf and heyday at the start of the next horticulture time of year . To shift the industrial plant into dormancy , I stop watering and allow the plants to completely expire back . The spate is totally bare , but the Oxalis medulla oblongata are still nestled safely beneath the stain surface , waiting to pullulate again in other natural spring . I start out to water abeyant works again in later February or early March , so they ’re in leaf and quick to go back outdoors as soon as the peril of frost has reach .
The other way to overwinter Oxalis is to dig up the bulbs in the fall , before a frost , ( the bulbs , oddly enough , often look like modest pebbles or even sticks ) and store themlike a dahlia genus Tuber . I spread the impertinently dug light bulb out on a screen in the service department for a solar day or two then throng them into a cardboard box fill with very slightly damp peat moss . I break the electric-light bulb asunder before packing them aside , but you may prefer to separate them in the spring when replanting .
Replanting Shamrock Bulbs In Spring
When fountain arrives , I set the bulbs back outdoors in late April . Or , if I want to get a jump - start on the grow time of year , I pot some of the bulbs up in pocket-size pots of potting stain in early March and grow them on a sunny windowsill to give them a bit of a school principal start . Whether planting the bulbs in containers or in the priming , be sure the midget growing point is head up , and locate them in a well - drain area where they ’ll receive about a half day of Sunday .
Unfortunately , there are plenty of boney species of Oxalis — you’d promptly recognise the petite yellow flowers of some of the weedy types rise in your lawn — but the decorative varieties are well - deserving growing .
