Re: Re. Re. Olive understory

My opinions about Oxalis pes-caprae were not intended as a slight on anyone who might actually enjoy the plant, but more to warn anyone who didn't know what it is capable of that it is not an ideal, innocuous garden plant.  I suspect that most enter into gardens as hitchhikers within the soil of plants that are dug up and given/moved into another garden.  For an abandoned lot or old field, it may even look pretty, but it can act the thug in a garden.

I also doubt that a single application of any herbicide actually kills Oxalis, I know that Round-up needs multiple applications to have any effect on it at all, and even then does not kill the bulblets that form off the original plant.  I would suspect that the oxalis-specific herbicide that Charles recommends also fails to kill the bulblets.  I seem to remember having tried the oxalis specific herbicide once myself, and it was not successful.  Pulling the plants never actually gets the bulb itself, as the plant pulls itself down lower into the ground as it grows.

The plant looks cheerful, is certainly easy to grow, but it is afterall a persistent introduced weed, that is much more successful outside of South Africa than it is in habitat, where it actually has pests, and animals that keep it in check.


--- On Thu, 2/19/09, Alimonos Miriam <mimika9@mac.com> wrote:

> From: Alimonos Miriam <mimika9@mac.com>
> Subject: Re: Re. Re. Olive understory
> To: "david feix" <davidfeix@yahoo.com>
> Cc: benwiswall@pacbell.net, "medit plants forum" <medit-plants@ucdavis.edu>
> Date: Thursday, February 19, 2009, 9:18 AM
> 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
> <mimika9@mac.com> wrote:
> > 
> >> From: Alimonos Miriam <mimika9@mac.com>
> >> Subject: Re: Re. Re. Olive understory
> >> To: benwiswall@pacbell.net
> >> Cc: "medit plants forum"
> <medit-plants@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.
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