Trading weeds

Michael Mace michaelcmace@gmail.com
Thu, 07 Feb 2013 00:12:04 PST
Jim wrote:

> I just would never recommend them to a mid western garden greenhouse

Fair enough, but since there are many people on the list who don't
necessarily have much experience with Oxalis, I'd like to add my two cents:
I think the genus is far too diverse to make a blanket statement about its
invasiveness.  There are probably hundreds of Oxalis species.  Some are
notorious weeds.  Some are so picky that they're almost impossible to grow
in captivity.  Most are somewhere in between.

I live in a climate where Oxalis ought to be invasive, but most of the ones
I grow won't persist in the ground and don't set seed.  You just need to
know which species you're dealing with.

There are some species of Gladiolus that produce hundreds of rice grain
offsets plus windblown seeds, and are therefore very likely to spread around
in pots.  But I wouldn't avoid the whole genus for that reason.

Hope that doesn't sound like abuse, Jim.  It's not meant that way.

Mike
San Jose, CA




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