Oxalis, Purple & Black False Shamrock, Wood Sorrel 'Atropurpurea'

I have tried growing this plant here in Louisiana a number of times, and of all those that I have planted only one has survived, and bare...Read Morely at that. On the other hand, the green oxalis that grows here (one variety with pink blossoms, the other with raspberry-colored ones), is so hardy and invasive that it completely covers the lawns of some homeowners, and it pops up everywhere, often in unwanted places, alas. It can easily be killed with herbicide, but when it grows in and around other desirable plants that is not feasible. The only alternative is to dig them out, but that is usually not a long-term solution, as they tend to come back from the numerous bulbs they propduce. I used to think it was pretty until it took over. Now, it is the bane of my gardening existence. I doubt that the purple variety will be a nuisance here such as it seems to be in Australia.

I live in Adelaide, South Australia, which is hot and dry in summer, with reasonable winter rain. I was horrified when I saw this plant ...Read Moreadvocated as something people would actually try to grow. I spent at least 20 years trying to eradicate it from a long driveway where it never received water other than winter rain, and the soil was dry and poor. It was only dealt with when the driveway was dug out mechanically to replace the underground sewer pipes, and the top two feet of soil were removed. A pest plant in my, and most Australians', opinion.

I have had mine for over 30 years (indoor) and it belonged to my great-grandmother back in the early 1960's here in NW Washington so it i...Read Mores over 50 years old now and it has never went dormant and I have it in a window on the NE side since it doesn't like heat or bright sunshine.

It flowers off and on all year.

Only problem it ever has is spider mites.

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I have both green and purple. A piece of my purple one sprouted in the flower bed and has returned the last 2 years. I planted a pot of t...Read Morehem, and they did not return this year. I'm confused why one patch came back and one did not?????? I didn't think they were even hardy in zone 6. At any rate they are great plant and not invasive.

We live on 1.3 acres near Seattle. There is a lovely spread of Oxalis under some big evergreens on our property: it was there when we mo...Read Moreved in 15 years ago. It is my absolutely favorite plant. I've transplanted it to other spots, and it does just okay in sunnier areas, but seems to love the shady hillside the most.

Have had plant and it's babies about 15 years, gift from grandaughter for St Patrick's Day. Have under trees and does well even in the dr...Read Morey Texas heat, if given ample water. Have one in container outside that gets a lot of attention from neighbors. It is such a lovely compact ball with its pink accents of blossoms. I love it. It is not as invasive as I would like : ?)

Houseplant care: Keep moist. Drain after every watering. Slightly cover bulbs/corms with soil. Choose a deep enough pot for root growt...Read Moreh. They like space to spread out & semi-shade/med light. Will go dormant if temp goes below 70F/22C.

Has been the envy of the office. I take it home & hide it when it takes its annual Feb-June nap. Have relatives who plant outside & re-dig every yr. Theirs look a bit healthier, but they have to keep getting bigger flower pots & find places to put the much bigger plants. Mine looks pretty enough.

Be very careful with this genus it can be extremely invasive out of its natural range.This is one of many herbs that should (in my opinio...Read Moren) be avoided, especially if it is not yet present in the location you wish to put it.What a super purple colour,if this were intentionally or accidentally hybridised with the more common Oxalis who knows what kind of superweed might result

for all of the invasiveness reasons as stated below, i prefer these as potted house plants, and they look GREAT when planted in a white p...Read Moreot. when their dormant period is due i just let their leaves die back and then put the bulbs in the refridgerator, NOT the freezer, is too cold in there! give them a couple of months and they are ready to grow again.

This plant has proved to be hardy in my zone (6b), with no special precautions! I planted some corms about 3 years ago and they come bac...Read Morek just fine every year.

i put this in the neutral category, because i myself do not hate this plant, just like i don't hate dandelions. they're very cheery & pr...Read Moreetty! but i was blown away to see that it is treasured elsewhere in the world, & even experienced as fragile & hard to keep alive apparently. like oppossums in aussie! here in new zealand gardeners wage a never-ending war to eliminated oxalis from places we don't want it! but we never win, because when it's happy with it's conditions, it goes NUTS reproducing itself! all it takes is to miss One Little Bulb sifting through your spot you're trying to purify, and it's BACK with a vengeance in a short amount of time! it's considered such a total weed here, that to pick some & put it in a vase is akin to picking ragweed or thistles...kind of arty at best, but usually would be met with ridicule! in all fairness, not being pampered but having to grow wild means mostly raggedy street urchin specimans are all anyone ever sees...leaves not purple at all but pale & the flowers usually small. i'm gonna try treating one well in a pot & see what is the result! (:D

For me and my Mom, when I was a kid, this was a plant that grew in the shady woods. There were two slightly different varieties and she ...Read Morecalled the one with pink flowers, Sheep Showers. This one she said we could eat. And we did, or at least I did...always raw. I'd pull the leaves and flowers off and eat them on the spot. Nice lemony tartness.

The smaller leafed one of the two had yellow blooms, and she called this one Snake Showers. She said this one was poison, but I ate it anyway...never any problems. There never was very many of these plants in the woods, and none of my siblings chose to sample. I called it my spring tonic.
Marigold42

I received this plant in bulbs from Richard Owens Nursery for buying other items, it was a freebee, and it grew like crazy. Mine have gr...Read Moreeen four leaf clover leaves with purple on the inside, then a cute little pink flower came up from within, very pretty. I was given four bulbs and all four bloomed, I gave two away and kept two for myself; but they were not all purple like in the picture in this article, only in the inside of the leaf the outside was green which I think, looked really nice.
joy112854

First of all -- this is a fantastic and gorgeous plant! In Georgia, it grows all year round and flowers too! How many plants do that, h...Read Moreuh?! Second, it is VERY invasive from seed. Third, it is interesting for the kiddies...it is sensitive to touch and will fold its leaves downward when touched by rain and other -- as it does in the evening. The beauty is the fact that, although it's invasive, it's worth the trouble for its hearty growth and cheerful visage.

These a beautiful plants. They do die out in the hear of summer here in NC but come back in the fall once it cools. Unfortunatly, the vol...Read Morees love to eat them but part of the bulbs survive and come back as smaller plants.

After this oxalis had gotten leggy and it was long after St Patrick's Day, I planted it in the ground, under an old pieris japonica. That...Read More was three years ago, and it comes back every year, here in west Seattle. It has full shade, and does beautifully, though it hasn't spread like the Oregon wood sorrel in the nearby garden area. Does better outside than it did in my house!

I live in Ohatchee, Alabama, about 60 miles west of Birmingham, Alabama.
I have had my Oxalis for several years, too many to re...Read Moremember. When we moved into a new home (on the same property) in 1994, I moved it, too. Mine is planted in beds on each side of my front steps, in filtered sun. They are thriving very well.
About 3 years ago I added the green Shamrock to the bed & last year I added a new one I had never seen before. It has green leaves with the deep burgundy in the center. It puts out the palest of pale pink flowers, a definite difference to the white & dark pink of the other two. All are doing fine, spreading & thriving.
When I "built" my beds, I put down several layers of newspapers, then about 5 inches of top soil. I have never fertilized my plants.
I tried planting some in another area next to my garage that gets more sunlight, and is "good ol' Alabama red clay", but they did not do as well. They are still there, just do not spread, grow or produce flowers.
..Joy Miller..

I live in College Station, Texas,  Zone 9, and tho' I don't have this exact plant, my garden spots are cursed with oxalis!!!   They ar...Read Moree indeed pretty little plants but so very invasive!!!  Each spring and on into the summer, I try to dig the little bulbs but they produce many small  bulblets which separate from the main bulb easily----------and then they're off and running to make more plants!!!  They do "fade away" in the heat but come back with a vengeance in the fall.So just be sure you want it before you put it the ground. 

FYI, I DIDN'T plant it-------it just showed up!!!

Here in Western New York state, I save the oxaxlis roots over winter in newspaper lined flats. Pull them from the garden, shake off most ...Read Moreof the dirt, then let the clumps dry before storing. Stack up the flats on shelves in the garage or basement - as long as they don't freeze. Around mid-March, I break up the clumps and set the roots in fresh potting soil. Line an empty flat with landscape fabric that overlaps the edge of the flat by a couple inches, add a couple inches of soil then the roots and cover with more soil. Water the flats and set them under lights. When danger of frost is past, slip the plants out of the flat - using the landscape fabric to pull them out -into a prepared area a little larger than the flat and then backfill with garden soil. I leave the landscape fabric right in place - the roots often go right through and the drainage is great. Makes a nice instant edging. As for the roots, I think the little pink shrimp-like ones produce the plants; I'm not sure of the function of the bigger white fleshy roots that I find every so often, but I throw them in too.
Sue6060

I was given this plant last fall as a gift and since have divided the rhizomes several times. I have it in a sunny window and it does be...Read Moreautifully. Ive noticed that it needs a roomy pot to grow because when I choose smaller pots the plants did' nt fair as well.It likes alot of water, Also like a previous DGer wrote noticed when I gave it fertalizer I thought I killed it but I kept watering it and it sprung back to life. I love this plant and have put it all over in my gardens I dont know how it will make out this winter but I'm looking forward to next year after reading all the success stories.

I grow in pots for fear of it taking over my garden. As beautiful as it is, I don't want it everywhere. Definitely needs shade but even...Read More in shade, it tends to fade a little bit in the summer. Coloring in spring and fall is spectacular. Easy to propagate by division.

On the south side of Chicago, the area grocery stores sell these right around the time of the South Side Irish Parade in March. I got th...Read Moree purple triangularis one and also a green one, oxalis acetosella that has white flowers. Not sure if it's true, but someone told me that this plant naturally goes dormant for a month after about 3 months looking good. You are supposed to just leave it alone while it looks dead for 4 weeks then it suddenly comes back to life. I have mine in diluted light and every morning, there it is all puffed up and beautiful ready to start my day. Every night when I come home from work there it is, sleeping with the leaves all collapsed and snuggled.

A very nice plant for a shade pot - give a contract to other green foliage shade plants - the purples stay very well even in woodland sha...Read Morede. Storage the bulbs during winter and then replant them.

This has grown well for me, even in my heavy clay soil. However, it definitely needs a little shade in our hot Texas weather. I have it...Read More running along a border that is mostly filtered shade, but one end is full sun. Everywhere else in the border is thriving, but the full sun spot is looking pretty sparse. I will be putting something else there, but love the rest of the border with my purple shamrocks!

Brent & Becky's lists this plant as regenellii var. triangularis "Mijke'.

I purchased this from Farmer's Nursery in Leander TX in 2004 and have watched it survive everything. I moved the bulk of the plant from p...Read Morelanter beds to herb box area and still see some growing in the original spots. The bumpy little nodules it produces, will root easily to form other plants. I still refer to it as Red or Purple Clover, or Oxalis. Tolerates heat, cold, dry and sandy soil.
Liberty Hill TX - 2006

The first time I planted this, it was in a hanging basket with some morning glory vines. Neither liked the full sun or windy location. ...Read MoreThe morning glories died within days, and the Oxalis started to lose its purple colour and revert to green. Despite some dieback, it survived and I surrounded it with some supertunias which shielded it from the sun and wind. Once fertilized, it really took off and flowered.

Next I tried it in a shaded location in a container with lobelia and fuchsia. It did marvellously and looked beautiful. I've learned now that it works best in shade or part sun instead of full sun.

This plant tries hard to make it anywhere. I have it scattered around in sun, shade, bright window and it always thrives. Very easy and pretty.

I originally bought these as a houseplant several years ago. It would continuously send up new leaves, and flower every few months. I...Read More kept it near a bright window, and only added houseplant fertilizer once in a while. The leaves and flowers wilt and fade, so there is a little cleanup required to keep it tidy. The only other care I gave it, besides water, was to rotate the pot, as the leaves will lean towards the light. It performed nonstop for at least 5 years, before the bulbs started to die off, one by one. Very fun plant to add a little different color in the houseplant collection.

I purchased more bulbs this year, adding half to the original pot inside, and planting half outside. They did great during the summer, but started losing the purple around mid October (turning more green) I am going to leave the ones outside in the ground, even though they are a little tender for my zone, to see if they can be wintered over with a layer of mulch.

I am curious about propagation of this plant. I generally propagate this plant by splitting the rhizomes but have noticed lately that a ...Read Morelone plant will sprout 6-8 feet away from a bed of these plants. There is no evidence of any other oxalis between the bed and the sprout. How does it travel this relatively great distance? It is a beautiful and forgiving plant I have had almost 15 years now, splitting and sharing every opportunity that arises. Especially beautiful when mixed with the all green oxalis/white flower.

For those of you 'zone challenged' gardeners it
(and most tender Ox)
are very good container plants that winter well.
...Read More/>
Bring in before the first frost.
Enjoy in a sunny window for a while.
Then allow them to go dormant by not watering at all.
After the foliage has died off wait a few weeks to a few months and dig up the corms.

Replant in average soil to about the depth of the corm (1/4 -1/2" deep) and water well.
We go about 2" between corms.

In a week or so they will start to break ground.

While it is easy to over-winter Oxalis as a plant the dormancy is crucial for new and lush blooms.
This is especially true of the purple forms.

Digging and repotting are not really necessary but are a good way to increase the number of plants.
Believe me after your friends see this plant, especially in flower they WILL want some.

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Edited April 30, 2011
After about 10 years of growing and giving away hundreds of these I still swear by the above method of wintering them.
Now I have another method too.
It's hardy in the ground here in Cincinnati.
Just today 15 of them broke ground after being forgotten last Fall.
No special care given but we are in a micro climate that is at least a zone higher than we're reported to be.

For several years had this plant and babied it in the greenhouse in the winter here in Washington state. Two years ago I planted it into...Read More the garden, and it has done fantastically well. It is under the shade of the Japanese banana (Musa basjoo) and companion to the Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra.) It makes for a great color combination. It receives only limited filtered sun and excellent drainage. Another "houseplant" that has happily made the transistion to the garden. Give it a try, it's tougher than you think.

San Antonio, Texas
This plant does well planted where it receives morning sun and afternoon shade or filtered shade in my area. C...Read Moreompared to the pink oxalis I have planted, it withstands the summer heat better and is bloomimg profusely after 108 degree weather. If it dies down during extreme heat when it is planted in a more sunny location, it will rebound when temperatures become cooler. Mine continue to bloom until the first frost. It's deep rich purple leaves provide outstanding foreground color against green background plantings. No insect pests have attacked it, but field rats ate several plants I had in pots on my patio to the ground in May. They resprouted at the end of July.

I grew this plant in Newnan, Georgia, (zone 7b) about 40 miles SW of Atlanta, in the ground under dappled shade for four years. I found ...Read Moretwo small plants growing as volunteers in another plant I had bought at a local nursery, and once transplanted and established in the ground they grew very happily at either side of a garden gate at the entrance to a wood, paired with "Variegated Liriope" (Lirope muscari 'Variegata') for contrast. The plants came up every year, surviving 6°F degree winter temperatures, and snow on the ground for several days.

Just today in the yard of a friend in Zone 8b in north-central Florida I saw a beautiful single specimen of this plant, again growing in dappled shade, and his plant was about three times taller than the height my plants ever achieved in Georgia. So now I'm going to grow it here, again paired with Lirope muscari 'Variegata'.

I bought this plant a couple of years ago in the early spring. After the summer began the plant burned off completely, I thought that it ...Read Morehad died, I hung on to the pot and in the late fall I began seeing new plants coming up. It came and went for probably about a year, never really doing much, but this spring I moved it to the north east side of my house and it went crazy! We are now into the later part of July (getting into 100°F degree weather daily) and the thing is blooming like mad and putting on new leaves everyday.

I fertilize it once a week with Green Light Super Bloom® (water-soluble fertilizer) and keep the soil damp. It seems to really like slightly filtered sunlight.

I received my plant as a gift in a pot around 1997. It did not do well in the pot under my patio cover (USDA Zone 7), so I moved it into...Read More the yard where it thrived in dappled shade. I didn't really know what I had, so what I've learned has been from trial and error. I found that it could very easily release the bloom and leaf stems if disturbed by even the lightest water force or by digging to separate. It would quickly recover, however, and be blooming again shortly.

I do not fertilize as it seems to not do well afterwards. I leave it in the ground year round and it's back up in the spring and blooms all summer until fall. It has survived ice, snow, temperatures below 0° and above 100°F. It's really a wonder plant and I love it. I've dug and shared with friends. It spreads easily but is not invasive. A more enjoyable plant I've never owned. I finally decided to see what I really had when a friend told me that it was Oxalis - I searched quite a bit, but not until this site did I see a picture of what I have. Thanks!

This is one of my favorite plants. I acquired a pot full of this plant in 1995 from a plant laboratory in a college I was attending at th...Read Moree time. They were doing research into the life cycle and behavior of the plant (flowering and the opening and closing of the leaves). I was told that the proper scientific name of the plant was Oxalis triangulasar, although I could be getting that confused with a more common wood sorrel species in this area (New York, U.S.)

It’s a highly resilient plant. Twice, the pot was down to one or two sorry looking individuals (they always sprout in pairs), mostly through excessive fertilizing. and I managed to bring it back. Excessive fertilizing is the easiest way of killing this plant.

It will flower regularly if it is in good health and not stressed (lack of water, light, excessive fertilizer, etc.) The flowers would wind up sticking to the window. The easiest way of telling that it needs more light or water is if the leaves don’t open during the day or under good plant lights. I sometimes used it as an water indicator to know when to water the rest of my plants, but I generally wouldn’t recommend that to others. Lighting is also critical - I’ve lived in several different places since I’ve had these plants, and they’ve grown differently in every place. Indirect light is best.

I also had to ask a Philippino friend to refrain from eating my plant. I think I put it in more colorful terms that that though: My pot of purple plants always piques people's interest. (Try saying THAT three times quick!)

The purple leaves can last for weeks in water as long as you immerse them as soon as they are cut.

Plant in light shade. T...Read Moreoo much sun makes for poor growth. Too much shade slows growth and gives the leaves a greenish tint.

If there are multiple growing points, propagation can be by division of the root/corm. If there is only one growing point you can break the corm into two but the piece without a growing point may or may not grow - just plant it and forget it.

I've been growing this since 1995. I dug it out of a garden in Hong Kong, moved it to China, and then moved it to England. It loves lig...Read Moreht, water and fertilizer. It flowers almost all year in warmer climates, and indoors in the winter.

My neighbour, from Zimbabwe, calls it "Sourgrass" and says they eat it back home. When she first saw mine she pinched a leaf and munched it.

Plant propagates by corms/splitting. It can also root in water.