One of the holistic healing gurus — Dr. Andrew Weill , I guess — has suggested that one of the keys to health is environ yourself with prime . I wish to flesh out that theme and surround myself with plants , particularly unity with attractive and/or sweet - smelling blossoms . At the moment , my dining elbow room windowpane seat contains a miniature twofold amaryllis with lambent white trumpets ; a kalanchoe that is just start to lose its last flowers after blooming for the past four weeks ; one pot of paperwhites that is nearly expend ; another that has only just begin to grow ; and two pots of chickenhearted paperwhites that will be blooming next week . For fragrance , I have a small lemon vervain and two scented geraniums that I brought in from their outdoor homes before the first frost . One geranium has leaves that sense faintly of rosiness and the other has little parting that smell strongly of pine .
It all adds up to a greenhouse - like environment that is very pleasant when everything else is ironical and parky . All that moist soil generate a bit of humidness , and I like to think that the plant life help freshen the indoor air . When planning an outside garden you have to remember ahead to assure an uninterrupted sequence of blooming . It ’s the same with an indoor garden . Today ’s paperwhites will be go in ten Clarence Day ’s time , so it ’s important to have something in the works for the day when the paperwhites hit the composter . When I was grocery rat the other day I noticed that the vast pyramids of boxed amaryllis and paperwhite planting kits that dominated the display before Christmas have been replaced by boxed in planting kit label “ Pink Lucky Clover ” and “ White Lucky Clover . ” On closer inspection , these “ clovers ” revealed themselves to be Oxalis , a low - grow plant that give birth clover - alike leaves and small pink or white flowers . I have never picture them packaged in this way before , but obviously , those ingenious Dutch growers have found yet another way to engender revenues in the weeks between the winter amaryllis extravaganza and the outpouring buying bacchanalia .
It does n’t be much to be adventurous with oxalis , so I bought one of the little boxes of “ Pink Lucky Clover ” and brought it home . The instructions , which were printed in French , German , English and Spanish , identify the species as Oxalis Triangularis , manifestly a citation to the three - sided leave of absence that are bear in clusters of three or sometimes four on the plants . The leaf of “ Pink Lucky Clover ” come out to be purple or burgundy gloss , adding involvement before the flower open and after they finish . essay guidance I wait up Oxalis Triangularis in that essential computer address book , Hortus III , and found that while the incoming for Oxalis is about three columns long , there is no quotation at all for a “ triangularis ” specie . This may be because my copy of Hortus is somewhat out of particular date , but it is more likely that “ triangularis ” is a term used only by the Dutch growers or their copywriter . At any rate , my Oxalis is probably Oxalis purpurea ‘ Grand Duchesse ’ , which is aboriginal to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa . Oxalis , which is also known as Wood Sorrel , is a member of the with child Oxalidaceae family and is distantly come to to Averrhoa , a South American tree diagram that produce the carambola , a fruit that has become popular in the last ten or fifteen years . As with many botanical yield , there is mix-up . Even though Oxalis is hump as forest sorrel , it is not related to the sorrel that the French and some Americans rise in their herbaceous plant gardens . That special flora is known botanically as Rumex scutatus , and is , so to verbalize , a whole dissimilar brute . It does however , make a tasty soup .
When I got my Oxalis home , I opened the box , find the set of way that were printed in English , and mark to work on . The box contained a small white wad , several ounces of potting mixture and five tiny bulb that attend like miniature pinecones . As target , I planted them 1 ” deep , watered the potting commixture , and set the planter in a sunny window . The directions do not say how long the germination mental process will take , but they do assure me that Oxalis is “ light to turn indoors ” with blooms that will last “ many months . ” Aftercare of the plant is not mentioned .
Hortus suggests that after my plant life bloom it should be placed in “ a wine cellar ” for a resting period . The Time Life Plant Encyclopedia send word me to wait until the foliage withers , then keep the electric-light bulb in ironical store until pin . After that I can propagate new plants from the bulblets that will organize around the parent bulbs . I will do my best to keep an eye on those instructions . What with abeyant amaryllis , slumber oxalis and remnant germ from last year , my cellar planting area will presently take on the appearance of a plant dormitory .
If memory serves , I think that I think back seeing nursery - grown , green - leafed Oxalis in the stores sometime around St. Patrick ’s Day . While it may not bring me “ the luck of the Irish ” , I am expect that my “ Pink Lucky Clover ” will be casting its magical spell just in time for Valentine ’s Day .
by E. Ginsburg
