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Jack Herlocker's avatar

I shall be on the lookout for oxalis, since a quick search yielded that most varieties like part- or full-shade. We have a planter in back, built of cinder blocks, that spends most of its time in shade, except high summer (it’s only a foot from our south-facing house). I keep trying plants, hoping to find ones that like shade AND will overwinter. So far I have chives as my only reliable plant. Could be much worse!

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3musesmerge's avatar

It comes in a number of colors. The first time I saw it in a planter was at the garden center...a milk chocolate colored leaf with pink flowers. It shared space with a plant called Gaura. Both are now regulars in my pots.

I find the Oxalis to be resilient in all conditions—even full sun on our hot deck.

Hope it works out for you and Deb!

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Gary Spangler's avatar

The blue oxalis search suggested they originated in the Himalayas. A couple of other color varieties indicated a preference for full sun but could still survive in shade. Your chives are also rhyzomatous!

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Gary Spangler's avatar

I think I was born with a dictionary in my hands! Or at least in my genetic makeup..."

Today it's not a dictionary, but the impetus is the same. So, today you wrote about the white oxalis and I wondered if our blue ones were also "oxalis." Shamrock leaves and the blossoms match, but Google informed me that "they are not from a bulb or corm." They are "rhizomatous" and grow from seed!

What I liked in today's newsletter is how you used the oxalis to initiate conversation, with encouragement for the checker to give one a try. A good illustration of a "living" plant!

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3musesmerge's avatar

Blue ones? The flowers?

Yeah...I think rhizome is perhaps a more accurate term than bulb, but I figure...close enough in this case.😉

I read in a recent management newsletter that “what gets recognized gets repeated.”

Isn’t that filled with wisdom? We spend so much time giving attention to what we do not like.🤷‍♀️

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Monty's avatar

That is an interesting tidbit about the shamrocks! Thank you.

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3musesmerge's avatar

They'll bloom all summer...fill the spaces in between the showier flowers.

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