RE: Re. Re. Olive understory

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I know most of you are "purists", "green" and abhorrers of chemicals.

I, however, am a chemist and a realist.

I realize there are times and there are places where a chemical can provide a much needed help available in no other satisfactory way.

I'm sure many chemicals will kill oxalis but the one I favor is an otherwise rather innocuous chemical called Ammonium Thiosulfate.

It is available in many garden stores under the name Oxalis-X.

We are lucky enough to own a fourplex (with help from our bank of course!).

A number of years ago we had an "infestation" of Oxalis.

Yes, the flowers are pretty but they are very aggressive here and have to be considered a weed to anyone that cares about the outward appearance of a building they own.

So I got some, READ THE DIRECTIONS and used it as recommended.

It didn't occur to me until this thread appeared that I haven't seen any over there for some time.

I recommend it.

I have not looked up the "dangers" of the chemical but it would surprise me a great deal if there was anything particularly inimical associated with it.

The cation, ammonium, is ammonia in an acid solution.

The anion, thiosulfate, is the chemical that makes "silver', old fashioned photography possible because it dissolves away the un-irradiated silver salt in the film's emulsion leaving the silver metal the developer created from the irradiated, activated silver salt in the emulsion.

I don't think I would be tempted to sprinkle it in my hamburger steak but I don't think it would kill me if I did.

Please, DON'T TRY INGESTING IT WITHOUT LOOKING UP ITS PHYSIOLOGICAL PROPERTIES.

A chemist's plea, don't reject this out of hand.

In some areas, such as mine, it can be a very persistent and annoying weed and this is the only EFFECTIVE control I know.

---Chas---

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David, you are probably right but I suspect I'm not your typical gardener but more of an anarchist.  Of course, we don't plant these oxalis here.  When I don't want them somewhere,  they are so easy to pull up that they practically weed themselves.  But again, as I said, I seem not to be on the same wave length as almost all the members of this list.  I fear I am simply not knowledgeable enough.

On Feb 19, 2009, at 18:16, david feix wrote:

Miriam,

It sounds like you have the same South African Oxalis pes-caprae in your area that we have here in California.  I suppose appreciating its soft verdant qualities and cheery yellow blooms is one way to see this plant; but I tend to think of it as the most pernicious weed in the garden, and it is a battle of wills to keep it out.  I have a hard time with the idea that anyone would willingly plant this species in their own garden.  One plant will unfortunately become millions, as can be seen by how many common names this has around the world, where it is not native, such as Bermuda buttercup, to name just one.  One can see this by the acre along the California coast, where it has naturalized along the freeways

On the other hand, I quite like the non-bulbous Oxalis spiralis var volcanicola from Costa Rica, which I often use as a perennial, but somewhat frost tender spreading ground cover for dappled shade.  I had first seen this at the old Strybing Arboretum on a slope near the natives/Redwood forest section, back in the 1980's, and began using it in my garden designs back then, before it was available from wholesale growers.  It has become popular across the USA now as an annual for hanging baskets and container plantings.  Various color forms are now available in the original green foliage, now also in chartreuse foliage, and a burgundy tinged foliage, all having almost continuous small yellow flowers all year long, as well as having attractive red colored succulent stems that can spread to 3~4 feet across.  It does however need some occasional summer water to keep it happy, which the other Oxalis you have does not!

--- On Thu, 2/19/09, Alimonos Miriam <m*@mac.com> wrote:

From: Alimonos Miriam <m*@mac.com>

Subject: Re: Re. Re. Olive understory

To: b*@pacbell.net

Cc: "medit plants forum" <m*@ucdavis.edu>

Date: Thursday, February 19, 2009, 1:17 AM

Hello,

Here in the Cyclades, a blanket of various oxalis appears

every winter.  I don't know if it will behave the same

way in your neck of the woods but here it never fails to add

a soft verdant quality to the landscape, and then of course,

it is an early cheerful harbinger of spring with it's

masses of yellow flowers.

Miriam

On Feb 19, 2009, at 4:29, Ben Wiswall wrote:

Hey all,

Thanks for all the good responses!  Karrie, that

columbine is beautiful: I'll see if Theodore Payne has

seeds of it. And Sylvia, I actually thought about Camellia

sasanquas as an understory for the olives, so I don't

think its too weird a combination.

I do want to include more California natives in our

garden, though.  It's not so much for their aesthetic

value as for their value to wildlife, in particular to

songbirds, but also in feeding insects which songbirds eat.

And lizards, mammals, etc., as well.  (The rabbits need no

encouragement, they're busy eating the lawn).

Today is my day off, and so I visited the Rancho Santa

Ana Botanic Garden for ideas.  The best groundcovers for

evergreen shade I saw were Fragaria, Heuchera hybrids, Iris

douglasiana hybrids, Salvia spathacea, and Ribes

viburnifolium.  I may plant a mix of them and let the best

plant win.

Jan, I hear your advice about planting now before the

olives' roots make it impossible to establish anything!

I'd better get busy!

To those of you in far-flung med. climate countries:

is there a push for more native plants for wildlife?  Here

in California it's a growing movement, partly I think

because for some reason conventional landscapes are almost

completely devoid of plants native to the state.  This

wasn't the case back in New York, where most suburban

gardens have lots of native trees- Flowering Dogwood,

American Holly, Rhododendron, not to mention shade trees and

conifers- so although native plants were a topic, they

weren't a really hot topic.

The Med. Basin is an important flyway for numerous

birds: is there concern among gardeners to make their trip a

bit easier?

What's the news on the topic down under?

Thanks again,

-Ben Armentrout-Wiswall

PS  One area I'm perfectly happy to go non-native

is with bulbs: Narcissus tazetta and Tulipa clusiana are

lovely under the olives, and I think I'll try Amaryllis

and Lycoris as well, maybe some Zephyranthes too.