We Have Met the Enemy - And it is Oxalis

It dapples my lawn. It decorates my garden. It peeks out like the yellow peril from beneath the creeping junipers. It pops out of pots - whether there is anything planted in them or not. If it were around in moderation I might even think it kind of pretty.

At one time I tried to learn to like it. Actually, my nemesis, Oxalis stricta is edible. One of its nicknames is wood sorrel, and it has a lemony taste just like that more cultivated and refined herb. I have picked several leaves and scattered them into salads with arugula and nasturtium leaves and mesclun mix - and they're pretty good. And they are allegedly packed with vitamin C. But they're not named Oxalis for nothing - they are also packed with oxalic acid - so a little bit goes a long way.

Unfortunately, that's also true in the yard. A little bit goes a long, long way.

My neighbor doesn't understand it when I run around muttering "Oxalis is the enemy." She has two favorite plants in her yard. One is Coreopsis 'Moonbeam' and the other is Oxalis triangularis - a lovely thing with wine purple leaves and pale pink flowers. I love that oxalis too. I even plant it on purpose.

But one doesn't need to plant Oxalis stricta. It turns up everywhere - like a bad penny. It looks a bit like clover - three perfectly heart-shaped leaflets joined into a shamrock shape - with yellow flowers. It is also a chameleon - like so many weeds it tends sprout among seedlings that you want - seedlings that look a lot like it. If you're in a weeding trance, as I sometimes am, it looks a lot like baby columbine, so you are quite likely either to leave it, unnoticed, or to weed out the good with the bad. Don't. You want to keep the columbine. You want to decimate the oxalis.

It looks innocent. It is pale yellow green - like clover that is sickening for something. You might almost think it would just dwindle away, like Camille. But don't turn your back on it.

If you do, you can expect that it will grow to unsuspected heights and flower madly. That's when you'll discover that it is armed. Just try to touch it and it's seed pods will explode and fling its contents for yards. So if you try to pull it, all you're really doing is making a thousand more oxalis plants.

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