The Lovely Oxalis! Dripcoin SAVINGS PLAN 🙂

Oxalis is a plant to which I’m deeply attached. ‘Sour Grass” we used to call it when walking home from school. We would pick a handful of its flowers, pulling with a gentle but firm grip, low down on each stem, until it would “pop” off at the base. We folded the stems in half, and in half again, said “one… two.. three go!” and munched on it like a carrot. We believe it caused us to run home faster than lightning. It does, actually. Go ahead and try it yourself.

 

Many people don’t like oxalis because its tiny bulbs naturalize and spread underground. This makes it hard to eradicate for lazy people. They either have to sift through the soil and remove bulbs (4-6″ deep), or hand pluck individual plants, which grow from a central stem. Either way works, AND.. is a nice, quiet activity 🙂

I love Oxalis! It sprouts up for a few weeks each year, and never seems injure or annoy neighboring plants. It forms a beautiful carpet of three-leaf-clover-style-foliage, 8″ tall, which looks lush and beautiful. Before the rains come, it provides shade for thirsty, sun-weary plants in dry soil. When fog is present, moisture gets trapped in the dense foliage of each plant and “rains” down to the soil instead of evaporating. In this way, Oxalis has rescued my ground covers year after year. A Dripcoin savings plan!

Best of all, Oxalis plants send up beautiful, yellow-green flowers, multiple ones, from each plant. They rise above the their leaves, clean, strong, bright yellow-green trumpet shapes!

AND they are diurnal! This means, their flower heads or flower faces follow the sun as it moves in the sky like a sunflower, AND, they close up at night and go to sleep! If you pick handfuls of Oxalis flowers and put them on your kitchen table, they will open with the morning sun, spread a fresh, spring-like yellow into the room, and then close and go to sleep in the night. And don’t throw them out! They will last for more than a week! Just stick them in water, in a cute jar. Try it!

I realize the majority of people don’t like Oxalis the way I do. That doesn’t change my mind for a second. It and I have a relationship which has been going all my life. So, whenever I’m digging I am sure to pick up any loose bulbs and scatter them haphazardly into the areas I most want them to grow. Very successful!