Oxalis recommendations?
Christiaan van Schalkwyk (Wed, 05 Nov 2008 02:06:46 PST)

Hi Jim

Unfortunately some species are rightly called weeds, in my experience they
are all American species !! Seriously, though, I guess most Oxalis could be
potential weeds if the conditions are good for them and IF they could escape
from cultivation. All South African species are bulbous and many produce
underground runners. If kept in pots on a shelf they will not escape, some
might try the drainage holes as an escape route, but if checked regularly
this can be prevented. It is also an indication that the potsize is too
small. See also #3 below.

Most of the winter growing species should be fairly hardy, maybe some of the
American growers should comment on this. The summer growing species are
dormant in winter, and should also be quite hardy.

Someone else with experience, please ?

Not likely to do so - seed production is very limited and rare in most
species of South African Oxalis because not all three (or at least two) of
the stylar forms that are needed for polination to occur are available in
collections. Mostly the species propagate vegetatively, and thus would stay
inside the pot where it was orriginally planted. Seeds might be produced in
larger collections if many different localities or forms of similar species
are present, as it increase the likelyhood that more than one stylar form is
present. Four species-groups come to mind: Oxalis hirta, Oxalis obtusa, and
Oxalis flava/fabaefolia/namaquana, O purpurea.

If looked after well most South African species can be beautiful during
flowering, some species have unfortunately only a short flowering time. Some
are quite nice as leafy plants, eg. O. flava, O. palmifrons, O.bowiei

My favourites: O amigua, annae, bowiei, convexula, glabra, inaequalis,
lawsonii, obtusa, purpurea, tenella
O. obtusa and O. purpurea have may different forms, and you can build up a
decent collection with only these two species. (I have more than 50
different O. obtusa colours and forms, and will easily accept more !)

hope this helps

Christiaan