Garden oxalis: description, features of cultivation and care, photos

• November 21, 2018
• garden plants
• Rezeda Zaripova

Many gardeners prefer to plant bright flowers in their flower beds. However, some of them also use plants that are content and modest in appearance.

These include garden sorrel (photo presented in the article), which does not have large inflorescences and a chic appearance. The plant is quite unpretentious to growing conditions. Tall varieties of the plant are good for alpine slides, and miniature varieties can create a delicate carpet of unusual leaves and small flowers.

Since the 17th century, some varieties of wood sorrel began to be grown not only as indoor plants, but also in garden plots.

General information

Natural protection against pests is one of the main advantages of this plant. No insect likes its sour leaves.

Garden sorrel, unusual in color and shape, has several hundred species. Its official name is oxalis. This heat-loving flower is native to South Africa and is also common in Central and South America. This plant is now popular in Europe. It is grown both in open ground and on the windowsill at home. Oxalis is widely used in landscape design.

Oxalis is a herbaceous plant of the Oxalis family. In addition to its scientific name, it also has folk names: false clover, hare cabbage and sorrel. And in fact, the leaves of this plant are very similar in structure to clover and have a sour taste. And the plant got its name thanks to this property. The leaves of the plant contain vitamin C and oxalic acid.

Botanical description

Garden sorrel flowers belong to the genus of annual or perennial flowering herbs. They have a creeping superficial rhizome with bulbous or tuberous growths. The plant grows up to 15-30 centimeters in height. The petioles are 20 centimeters long and have leaflets of a palmate or trifoliate structure. Their length is 5-15 cm. The peculiarity of the leaf plate is that it is folded and lowered in cloudy weather, at night or when there is any physical impact on them. The leaves can be colored green or burgundy and can be single or bi-colored.

The plant blooms in late spring and early summer, and the duration of this period is about one month. A long peduncle grows from the axils of the leaves and carries either one or several buds. The corolla of regular shape consists of 5 petals fused into a tube, with a rounded edge bent outward. Just like the leaves, the flowers of the garden sorrel also close at night. The petals are mostly colored in white, lilac, pink and yellow. Bisexual flowers are prone to pollination by insects and to self-pollination.

The fruits of the plant are fleshy seed capsules of an oblong shape with green valves. They contain drop-shaped small seeds with thick skin.

Caring for oxalis at home

When caring for sorrel, you should focus on the season of the year:

Rest period

The duration of wintering is 1-1.5 months. The flowers stop growing, but the foliage does not fall. At this stage, reduce or completely stop watering (you need to look at the condition of the plant). Indoor varieties are transported to a cool and dry room.

Bloom

Flowering, if oxalis is guaranteed high-quality lighting, can begin at any time of the year. To do this, after the end of the usual period of bud appearance, an artificial wintering area is created. After a month, the sorrel is transplanted into new soil, watered abundantly and placed in a well-lit place. Flowering occurs after 30-40 days.

Features of transplantation

Oxalis is a fast-growing plant and therefore requires annual replanting. The optimal time is the end of February or the beginning of March.

At the same time, they replace the soil and try to handle the bulbs as carefully as possible. Oxalis is thoroughly cleaned of debris and dry leaves.

Oxalis requires the lightest substrates. When creating a soil mixture yourself, it is recommended to use the following components in a ratio of 1:1:1:2:1:

• leaf, turf, humus and peat soil;
• fine sand.

Oxalis cannot be grown one onion at a time, so mix 8-10 bulbs into a container. Planting material is buried 1 cm into the soil.

A drainage layer consisting of expanded clay must be placed in the pot. After transplantation, the flower is moved to a cool room and limited to careful watering.

Features of the plant

The top layer of the skin of the seed pods contains a large amount of sugars that attract ants. It is they that carry the seeds over considerable distances.

After ripening, the valves of the garden sorrel berry open sharply and unexpectedly and shoot out their contents (seeds) over a long distance.

The plant is very decorative, so it has become popular among gardeners. It is grown in gardens as a border or on lawns, and also at home as a houseplant. In addition, sorrel has excellent medicinal properties: diuretic and choleretic. In addition, it is used in the treatment of various colds.

Application

• In cooking. Fresh sorrel is used instead of sorrel, added to various salads, and also used to prepare cabbage soup. You can make puree from sorrel, or grind it and add it to cooling drinks, because it perfectly quenches thirst.
• In medicine. In folk medicine, oxalis is often used for diarrhea, heartburn, gastrointestinal diseases, worms, kidney disease, and stomach cancer. Typically, sorrel is brewed to drink or a few drops of leaf juice are added to a drink.
• When losing weight. Oxalis has a fairly low calorie content, so it is beneficial during a diet. After all, it is when a person adheres to a diet that his body quickly loses all vitamins and nutrients, and this plant is able to restore them.
• At home. As mentioned above, sorrel can not only be grown as an ornamental plant, but also actively used to treat any diseases or even cooked.
• In cosmetology. Since oxalis has an anti-inflammatory effect, it is also used in cosmetology to combat acne and skin inflammation.

Varieties

Garden sorrel is a plant that can be an excellent decoration for flower beds, alpine slides and window sills in the house. In total there are approximately 800 varieties. Some of them are intended for open areas, others for growing indoors. Both planting and care depend on the type of plant. Many of them are demanding on location and soil. The shades of wood sorrel leaves and flowers depend on the variety.

The most famous types:

• common wood sorrel, which has small white flowers with pink veins (its leaves are used as food in some countries);
• tuberous oxalis is a variety that grows in Central and South America, where it is grown along with potatoes (there are tubers on the roots, solid green leaves have a trifoliate shape, pink flowers);
• ferruginous oxalis is a fairly winter-hardy variety, growing in spherical bushes and blooming with silvery flowers with pinkish veins;

• nine-leaved wood sorrel is a perennial species that is more demanding of care and has flowers of pink and white shades, as well as long-leaved nine- or twenty-fold leaves of a greenish-silver hue;
• Bouvie's wood sorrel is a fairly tall perennial plant (up to 25 cm) with leathery leaves of a pale green hue and dark pink flowers;
• Depp's oxalis, which has heart-shaped leaves 4 cm long (green with a brown center) and crimson flowers.

It should be noted that the following types of oxalis are best suited for growing in the garden: nasturtium, volcanic, pink, multi-colored, triangular, etc.

Reproduction

The plant can be propagated by cuttings, tubers and seeds, depending on the variety. Some people prefer to sow oxalis seeds in greenhouses in early April or in special containers in the house. The plant is planted in the ground after spring frosts.

When wood sorrel is propagated by dividing rhizomes and tubers (cold-resistant species), planting should be done in the fall. Heat-loving varieties can be planted after spring frosts. Oxalis is very easily propagated by cuttings. To do this, a part of the stem is cut out along with the leaf and placed in water. When the first roots appear, the seedling is planted in open ground. During rooting, sorrel must be protected from direct sunlight and watered regularly. It should be remembered that this method of propagation is not suitable for all plant varieties.

Diseases and pests

Oxalis, if all care conditions are met, almost never gets sick and is not attacked by harmful insects. Most problems can be caused by:

• lack/excess of watering the plant;
• lack/excess of lighting;
• lack of fertilizing;
• too small pot.

Certain actions will often help solve the problem.

• Find the optimal location for the plant, where direct sunlight will not hit the leaves, but it will not be completely dark.
• Monitor the frequency and abundance of watering. And also check the soil and drain the water from the pan.

One of the most common problems is this: the root system rots, and fungus gnats take up residence in the roots. In this situation, saving the home occupant becomes more difficult. However, it is possible to return an indoor flower to a healthy existence.

• Remove the plant from the pot. Carefully and carefully shake off the roots from adhering soil.
• Cut off those shoots on which rot has spread.
• Replant the sorrel in the dried soil.
• Spend several days with moderate (less than usual) watering so that the flower adapts to new living conditions without the trimmed part.

The number of pests that are eager to attack a home resident is large: mealybug, scale insect, whitefly. If you find any, do not hesitate and take measures to destroy the enemies on the plant. The mealybug looks like a white bump on the leaves or shoots of oxalis. Gradually, as the mealybug multiplies, a white coating forms on the leaves.

For treatment, it is necessary to wipe all affected areas on the oxalis with a cotton pad soaked in a soap solution. It would be a good idea to wipe all the leaves with an alcohol solution or calendula infusion. The procedure can be carried out once every few days. If the situation has not been triggered, no further action is required.

If the bug has already attacked a large area of ​​the flower, you should resort to chemicals. Spray the affected areas with a solution that can be purchased at the store every 10 days. “Fitoferm”, “Tanrek” and “Biotlin” have proven themselves best. These combination sprays will cause even a large colony of mealybugs to retreat.

Scale insects are resistant to external influences, so getting rid of them involves some difficulties. The scutellum, or small shell, protects insects from the environment. Insects are tightly attached to the surface of the wood sorrel, making it difficult to remove an individual. It is easy to notice scale insects: tubercles of different shades (depending on the type of parasite) will be on the leaves and shoots. However, in the early stages, the pest can only be detected by sticky leaves: insects leave behind a sticky liquid.

If the situation is advanced, you need to remove adult scale insects. Chemicals will not affect them: the shells will protect the scale insect from any liquid. To remove insects from a leaf, you can soak a cotton swab or disk in a soapy solution and treat all leaves on both sides, as well as adjacent stems. Treat the plant, pot and nearby objects (as well as the wall and window sill, which are in close proximity to the pot) with chemicals. Actellik is suitable for this purpose, but you need to remember: a strong odor will accompany the treatment process with this drug, so it is advisable to place the pot in an isolated place.

One of the most unpleasant pests are small butterflies that greedily swoop down on the plant. Appears on sorrel in cases where the soil becomes waterlogged at elevated air temperatures. In this case, you can notice midges circling around the wood sorrel. The length of the pest does not reach more than 3 mm, and the body is covered with powdery pollen. For effective control, rinse the sorrel under running water, which should be cool. Next, you can begin treating the plant with insecticidal agents designed to combat whiteflies. It is better to purchase drugs in a specialized store.

For information on the features of caring for sorrel, see the following video.

Care

The garden sorrel flower is unpretentious. How to care for it? During hot weather, the plant should be watered regularly and moderately. When overwatered, the underground part of the plant will begin to rot, and the aftereffect can be various diseases (gray rot, fusarium, etc.). The following insects can also damage this plant: scale insects, aphids, whiteflies, red mites, etc. When the first signs are detected, the plant must be immediately treated with insecticidal preparations.

During the growing season, oxalis needs to be watered more often, and the substrate should dry to a depth of 1.5 centimeters, but drying out, as well as stagnation of water, should not be allowed. With the beginning of autumn, watering should be gradually reduced and minimized, and during the dormant period it should be completely abandoned (for about 6 weeks).

Varieties that do not overwinter in open ground need to be dug up in the fall. The following types of wood sorrel are winter-hardy: common oxalis, ferruginous oxalis. However, during frosts, these plants should also be covered with mulch or ordinary spruce branches.

Types of oxalis and features of caring for them

At home you can grow the following varieties of sorrel:

Fertilizer

Garden sorrel, planting and caring for which is quite simple, requires little feeding. Any mineral fertilizer intended for flowering plants, or a home-made mullein infusion can be suitable for this. The first feeding should be carried out during the period of foliage growth. Then you need to wait for budding and fertilize the plant again. The third feeding should be done after another two weeks. It is important to remember that the concentration of fertilizer should be half as much as for other garden plants.

Each fertilizing should be done after a small watering of the garden sorrel with water.

Purple wood sorrel

This indoor culture is not at all picky. It is a lush lilac bush with many small leaves of a violet or lilac hue. The flowers of this plant can be yellow, pink or white. This wood sorrel grows up to 30 centimeters in height.

In some countries, this variety is considered a symbol of goodness and good luck, and it is the best gift for the New Year holiday. Among these indoor plants there is also burgundy sorrel, which also looks great in any room interior.

Oxalis triangularis

Oxalis began to be grown as an indoor crop only in the last century. Flower growers were attracted by the opportunity to decorate a windowsill with a spectacular plant from distant countries with virtually no hassle. A striking example of this is the purple or triangular sorrel, once exported from Brazil.

The name of the species is due to the structure of the leaves and their color. Most small triangular sorrel plants are striking with a thick purple hue, and on the leaf blades, in addition, spots or streaks of a different color are clearly visible.

But unpretentious indoor culture is not only purple. Green triangular sorrel is no less elegant and decorative. Against the background of large three-lobed foliage, small white flowers stand out, readily opening buds all year round.

A little about signs and superstitions

This plant is a welcome guest in any home. Oxalis promises prosperity and peace to the family, protection from omissions and quarrels, as well as good meetings with close friends. The house turns into a place for gatherings and joyful meetings with relatives and loved ones.

There is an opinion that this plant helps lonely people solve personal problems and find their soulmate. It helps get rid of depression and bad mood. In some countries, this plant, as noted above, serves as a good gift, meaning financial well-being, joy and happiness.