Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Alpines => Topic started by: Mark verna on September 10, 2019, 02:02:42 PM
-
When planting oxalis bulbs such as adenophylla should the bulb be crowning and getting sun or should it be totally below soil and gravel.
(My first post as a new member of the forum and a newbie especially when compared to the amazing posts I've seen on here)
Thanks
Mark
-
Hello Mark, welcome to the forum!
Here in Aberdeen Oxalis adenophylla copes well with being just under the surface in a sunny spot. It certainly wants a well-drained spot. The corms can be attractive to mice so being right on the surface can be too much temptation for them! If you have a lot of mice around - and no hungry cat - it might be an idea to plant the corms wrapped in a loose basket of small gauge chicken wire, such as is often suggested for crocus corms. If growing them in a pot then a grid of weld-mesh above the corms and just below the surface is a good idea.
Such a pretty little plant with attractive foliage as well as those sweet flowers. They seem quite late into growth here I think, compared to other people's plants.
-
Hello Mark, welcome to the forum!
Here in Aberdeen Oxalis adenophylla copes well with being just under the surface in a sunny spot. It certainly wants a well-drained spot. The corms can be attractive to mice so being right on the surface can be too much temptation for them! If you have a lot of mice around - and no hungry cat - it might be an idea to plant the corms wrapped in a loose basket of small gauge chicken wire, such as is often suggested for crocus corms. If growing them in a pot then a grid of weld-mesh above the corms and just below the surface is a good idea.
Such a pretty little plant with attractive foliage as well as those sweet flowers. They seem quite late into growth here I think, compared to other people's plants.
Thanks for the reply , we have a cat so mice not a big issue and I have a couple in small troughs I picked up at a local garden centre but the one I got online delivered today (oxalis lone hecker) was below gravel so wanted to check what's best practice.
I really like the oxalis they are a favourite of mine along with gentiana verna.
Mark
-
It'll love a trough! Just don't bury it too deeply. Enjoy!
-
Maggi does this advice of planting shallowly apply equally to Oxalis laciniata?
-
Yes, Jamus, we have them just shallow planted here.
-
I grow a few oxalis is troughs and raised beds, but most we grow in mesh pots plunged in sand in a raised frame. I usually repot in February (any time suitable but better when not in growth). O. adenophylla we plant just below the surface, although be the following autumn the "bulbs" will be mostly exposed. O. laciniata and O. enneaphylla have elongate branching rhizomes. I plant these about 2-3cm down - by autum a few of the rhizomes will have made their way to the surface but most are subsurface, some branching deeper into the compost. O. enneaphylla and O. laciniata rhizomes that are left exposed at the surface tend to dry out or are easily damaged (or even attract aphids) so I tend to cover them with grit when I notice them. In nature I have not seen rhizomes at the surface of any of the 3 species - they are usually about 3-5cm or more below the soil surface.