My oxalis

oxalis

My oxalis. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

My oxalis is getting big. It has grown a lot since I got it about a year or so ago.

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My oxalis. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

Its leaves are fascinating. Daytime they open up in their full glory. Nighttime, when it is dark, they fold in the leaves and close.

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Oxalis leaves. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

For a while the past autumn and winter I thought it was dying. It kept losing leaves. The leaves just collapsed. I also had it in a lighter spot for a while. It didn’t like that so had it moved a bit further from the window and onto the kitchen table.

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Coming up, new oxalis. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

But then it started sprouting new leaves and even flowers.

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Oxalis flowers. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

The flowers are beautiful. Small and pink in a cluster.

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New oxalis babies. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

Both leaves and flowers first appear as small loops at earth level. They grow fast though so in a couple of days they are up.

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My oxalis. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

The whole plant turns towards the light so you have to turn it around frequently.

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My oxalis in the sun a couple of weeks ago. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

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Oxalis flower. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

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Oxalis flower and leaf. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

I also have wild oxalis in the garden. I dug them up from another space where they suddenly appeared and at first put them into pots.

They spread like weeds… and keep coming back each year. I’ve even removed a lot of them when they became too many. The wild ones in the garden look different though and are another specie.

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Wild oxalis in pots. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2015

At first I had the wild oxalis in pots, but soon enough moved them into the flowerbeds instead. The leaves of the wild oxalis are rounded and their flowers are yellow and bloom a very short time. The wild ones behave the same way as the ones indoor. They close their leaves at night, and open them again when light comes in the morning.

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Wild oxalis in the flowerbed. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2015

There is also a green variant of the oxalis which has white flowers. Have been considering to buy one of those too. Have to wait though until I can move the small pelargonia plants outside for the summer so I get some more space in the kitchen windows… Presently it is quite crowded there.

There are about 900 species of oxalis… Read more about it here.

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