Shamrocks and Oxalis

As Saint Patrick’s Day approaches our front greenhouse holds pots of oxalis. This cheerful plant is a sign of spring for many of our customers. Several types of oxalis are commonly sold around Saint Patrick’s Day since they resemble what people picture as the traditional Irish shamrock. In reality, there is no true “shamrock” as this word is a corruption of an Irish word that means “little clover.” It’s commonly thought that shamrocks are actually white clover, Trifolium repans.

In our greenhouse we often have green and purple Oxalis triangularis, aka false shamrock. We often have the purple and green bi-color variety called ‘Iron Cross” as well. Oxalis tetraphylla ‘Iron Cross’ is traditionally given as a good luck plant probably because the leaves are in groups of four and so painted with the four-leaf-clover brush.

To keep an oxalis happy indoors, put it in a bright location that is on the cool side. These are not plants that love being in hot, direct sun. Water when the soil is dry. Some people transplant their oxalis to a larger, clay pot and keep it from year to year as a houseplant, but others choose to move it outdoors with other shade annuals in the summer. Oxalis can be lovely when combined with begonias and ferns in mixed containers.

Oxalis usually goes dormant in the winter, so if you’re keeping it as a houseplant, know that there will be times when it dies back. Some people put their pots of oxalis in a cool garage during the dormant period, bringing the plant into the house again in April or May.

Oxalis is a good choice for combining with other spring flowers such as primrose or forced bulbs in Easter baskets. It may be called “false shamrock,” but there’s nothing fake about this plant. Whether you’re giving it as a gift, putting it in the center of your kitchen table, growing it as a houseplant or adding it to your mixed-annual containers, it’s a plant that we treasure simply because it’s cheerful.