Oxalis lobata (again)

 

One of my plants of Oxalis lobata (now O.perdicaria I think). This one has grown unprotected from an escaped bulb about 10 years ago in a sunny trough here, just outside of Oxford, UK. It’s one of my absolute favourite plants with the fresh green leaves and golden yellow flowers that glow in the later summer & autumnal sun.

This one is much more compact than in my shady greenhouse where it tends to sprawl so I’m now bringing the plants in pots out to flower. I made the mistake last year in assuming I could leave them out all year. The result was my two large pans were downsized in the spring to a single small pot. I don’t know whether they got too wet or cold or a combination of the two.

When I was a teen I read in the old books I got from the library about the problem of it going dormant in the winter and again in the summer, leafing up in the spring and then leafing up and flowering in the later summer. I’ve found that with me it only goes dormant in the summer. I think it was regarded as a novelty and desirable plant, I get the impression that it’s popularity has waned although it still seems to be readily available.

well this is a turn up for the books...

 I'm back again. First there was the Inspiring Plants website in 1999 that got alot of visitors and some awards, then the platform changed and that went so I created a blog. Then I got locked out of that blog and started another Inspiring Plants site and then that got messed up by the hosting service so I'm back on the blog.

Alot has changed for hobbyist content over the decades. Free hosting has largely gone, blogging appeared, and then Facebook & Instagram are with us. Email lists have mostly disappeared and forums seem to be on their way out. Such is progress.