The reason I ask is, begosh an’ begora, our “Shamrocks” arrived Friday! Every year we grow potted plants to give away on St. Patrick’s Day. As you know Shamrocks are the traditional plants, however, Oxalis is more commonly grown these days because they are much more showy and reliable than the originals.
I’ve grown real Shamrocks in the past and they are rather plain compared to our newer varieties. There is still a small patch of them growing against the west side of the greenhouse.
Normally, Oxalis is grown from small roots or tubers. A few are placed in the bottom of a pot and the plants grow from there. This year we decided to try something different, we ordered tissue culture produced starter plants from EuroAmerican, a large plant propagator out in California. They have developed a method of growing Oxalis from tissue culture which is a way of growing Oxalis without seeds or tuber by using nearly microscopic pieces of the plant.
This method has been around for quite a few years. I actually worked on tissue culture back in the late ’70′s when it first got started… but I digress. Some plants are easier to propagate this way than others. For example, nearly all Hostas are now grown by tissue culture. EuroAmerican has the size and budget to develop these types of products. As a result they have come up with six different varieties of Oxalis, three of which are new this year. We opted for the more traditional looking ‘Charmed Jade’ variety which has green leaves and white flowers. Others have yellow flowers and or reddish or purple leaves.
This line of plants from EuroAmerican are sold around the country and locally under the PW or ” Proven Winners” brand.
Time will tell whether or not we will abandon the old method of growing Oxalis and continue with the new after this season, but I’m excited by the possibilities of the new method. The tissue cultured varieties are only hardy to zone 8 so they will not survive a Michigan winter. The older varieties are hardly to zone 5 which makes them a perfect addition to our perennial gardens.
Top O’ the Mornin’ to Ya!
Bob