That red kind actually looks kinda pretty. But I know what you mean, the green is all over and it seems to never, ever go away. You pull it, spray it, cover it with inches of mulch and it still keeps coming back. I hate it too, and creeping charlie and plantain are right up there with it.

Karen

I've had more oxalis in the garden this year than I've ever seen before. I'm trying my best to pull/RoundUp the stuff before it blooms, and I've even sneaked over to the neighbors' to yoink it away from their foundation plantings when I see those telltale yellow flowers, but it Will Not Go Away.

I try, in an effort to keep my blood pressure down, to put a positive spin on it... it's more attractive than crabgrass and quackgrass? It's fairly low growing?

Nah, that doesn't help. It still infuriates me.

I think it's the red stuff that would drive me to crack if I let it. The green stuff kind of stands up like a little Christmas tree and comes out easy, but that ground-hugging red stuff is murder. Sometimes I don't even see it unless I get real close to the ground. Those dark leaves just blend in so well with the soil color and you really can't pull it since it breaks off to sprout once again. Very clever little plant.

K

I just pretty much ignore it, unless its crowding out low growing flowers. I don't get the red oxalis, but quite bit of the green hangs out in my gardens. I kind of like it's fresh, bright color. My daughter likes to nibble on the leaves. They have a tangy flavor. My garden is where I relax. I WON'T stress over weeds!

I have a huge invasion of the green stuff this year. I am trying to keep after it, but since it regrows from the tiniest bit of root left over, this will be a perpetual task. I thought it must have come in with the compost I put down, but have noticed that the non-gardening neighbors have it too. Deeje, I did sneak over to their yard (they are on vacation) and pull theirs! I will tell them about the weed, though, but I expect that that when they are home theirs will be allowed to seed.

I'll see your oxalis and raise you a garden full of bind weed!
Now THAT'S nasty!
Linda c

Lindac....

I was about to post the same thing, but with creeping charlie instead.

I beat bindweed (except for the stragglers that keep trying to re-establish from my neighbor's yards) but digging out all the beds and sifting the soil to remove all the fleshy fragile roots, that and pulling every seedling that dares to poke its head above the mulch. Charlie however is another thing entirely (but I did manage to wipe out a big chunk of it last fall).

~Chills

I only have the green but it doesn't bother me 1/2 as much as the purslane.

Hey, purslane is edible. As are wild violets, but still noisome weeds.

One piece of good news - the yucca I painstakingly dug out over the past few years seems to have given up the ghost.

I think.

Heh -- last year, it was the purslane that was driving me to distraction and the oxalis appeared once in awhile. This year, just the opposite.

I'm beginning to think they're sentient, and are doing this on purpose just to mess with me.

You know I had bindweed once. It terrified me, but for some reason it's gone. As a kid, we ate this blasted oxalis, but I haven't tried any recently. I wonder how it would taste in my daily salad?

My dreaded horsetail never came back after I dug every piece I could find last fall. I guess that's good news.

K

we did in the local purslane by eating it all for a couple years (quite good actually, and supposedly is the highest plant source of Omega3 fatty acids)

For the past 2 years we've been planting a French cultivated variety of purslane (the pads are larger and sweeter) and let some go to seed to try and establish it here.

We also came pretty close to wiping out the population of lambs quarters, but fortunately the three vacant houses on the street seem to be a bountiful source of seed as this year it is back after a 2 year hiatus.

~Chills

You can chew on a little oxalis as a source of vitamin C, but eating a large quantity would poison you because of the oxalic acid in it. The official name for the green plant with clover like leaves and pretty yellow flowers is Oxalis pes-caprae, aka Bermuda Buttercup, aka soursob, aka sour grass. Here is an article about it. It is one of the hardest weeds to get rid of, so why fight it, enjoy its beauty.
http://tncinvasives.ucdavis.edu/alert/alrtoxal.html

You all don't know what bad is!! Want me to send you some Stars of Bethlehem??

flowergirl - I once planted some Star of B. It died......

aachnelf-you don't know how lucky you are!! I too have oxalis, but suprisingly it doesn't spread much.

I had the terrible green oxalis before. It was EVERYWHERE. The only way I could solve the problem was by moving away.

I had an oxalis in Texas that they call wood sorrel and it was large green clover like foliage with violet pink flowers in spring. It came from nowhere and took over my yard where the wondering Jew was. The Wandering Jew would be frozen off and dormant and the ground bare during much of the winter. The oxalis would grow bloom on the exposed ground and then During June rains and humidity, the oxalis would catch rust and die off just as the purple WJ was taking off, so it complimented them nicely. It did move into the back yard and I couldn't grow anything shorter than the oxalis. No succulent short things for me. I was too busy to object and it wasn't an ugly weed. My sister came from New Zealand to visit me. She walked into the back yard, saw the oxalis, uttered it under her breath and immediately made the cross sign as one would ward off a vampire, I have been very careful when I moved to leave my dirt behind. I have entered an oxalic free period with low sedum for ground covers.

The little girl down the street said my oxalis ridden yard looked like fairies lived in it , so I have a hard time hating it.

I was at the local nursery and they were selling the type that you showed , the red one at the store. NO KIDDING. I told the owner about this thread and told him that it was invasive in places just to our north. He did thank me. I used to laugh when I saw sensitive briar being sold here. In hawaii it is hugely invasive. It is a native here and very in balance. There you go.

I do not know if what I am doing is working, but I am digging it out of the ground a little at a time every day. My Oxalis has a central wine colored "carrot" type root beneath the surface, sometimes a couple of inches deep. If you can find that, it is the motherlode. Leaves on tendrils grow out on the surface for many inches and these all have spider roots. You have to dig under the whole area, then separate the grass from the Oxalis you are removing. Then push your grass back down. Certainly you need to get the "carrot" if you can, but if you only remove several inches of the tendrils, I believe you did help some. Keep your pulled weeds in a box to throw away in a bag. Hopefully never to see the light of day again! Removing just the leaves, is of course, worthless. I have only seen a few of the seeds which seem to work like "stickers" which can attach to objects or animals and spread the plague. I have also used "Weed Be Gone" which is expensive and, as far as I can tell, has little or no effect on the "carrot" root which is the plant's genesis. If you just want the leaves and some of the tendrils to die, it works fine. VERY short term and no solution. Good luck. Advice to the unwary, NEVER let Oxalis get a hold. It's an incredible amount of work to eradicate. It will literally take over your yard.

Don't hate me...i love oxalis! i have a bit of the weedy stuff in the garden, and even bought some more...can't help myself...i've always found it charming. Growing up in Nebraska, though, we had the worst infestation of bindweed and creeping charlie...not to mention crabgrass and sandburs...sheesh...don't miss ANY of that!

Around here we just call it plain 'ol clover LOL! But, yea, agree - it's a weed.

Eh, I personally don't mind clover in the grass, the bees love the flowers, and hey it's green (I'm not big on grass, but I'm in suburbia so....)

The clover is fine, but I still hate the oxalis. I've been trying a new technique this year for getting rid of the stuff growing amongst plants I don't want to kill. I put a plastic bag over my hand, give the bag a couple of sprays of Roundup and then gently and carefully touch the leaves of the oxalis being careful to not touch the good plants. It's kind of slow going, but it does work.

Kevin

Kevin - haven't seen you on the board in a while, glad you're still here!! :0)

This must be the year for this very cute 'wine' & the green ones, as mxk3 posted:

"Around here we just call it plain 'ol clover LOL!"

&... just as bad are the spider webs ... they're every where ... must be the year of the SPIDERS too!!!

I hate how oxalis pops up everywhere. I hate how when i pull it, i hear a snapping sound which means i didnt get it all. I hate when it grows up in the middle of a nice clump of blue oat grass. I hate that it's cute and cheeky.

But more than anything, I hate dandelions, thistles and vinca minor. LOL.

Does this mean it has to be dug out.It killed out the neighbors grass and now I see some in my yard

I have oxalis. All around. The green with purple flowers. If they weren't so annoying, I would probably like them.

and wait a minute! While I was trying to figure out my other hated weed, I found out it, too, is oxalis. It's a much smaller leaf, with small yellow flowers. I also fight with rattlesnake weed (Florida Bettony). It grows much like the previously mentioned, only it's roots and tubers grow further down and are much more fragile.

We also have vines. Lots and lots of vines. Many of them have thorns. Fun stuff.

Boy, there must be lots of different species of annoying oxalis. None of ours from bulbs or runners. They're just extremely well-rooted little jerks.

Kevin

Oxalis was choking out my lawn. Weeding last year caused it to come in more thickly this year. I was about to remove my lawn--it was driving me crazy.

This year I found Weed Beater Ultra for broadleaf weeds. It cost about $22 and covers 10,000 sq. ft. It does not harm most grasses-safe for bluegrass, rye grass, fescues, bermuda, and zoysiagrass.

I used it and to my amazement it thoroughly worked. All the oxalis in my lawn is gone!

Well, I shot off my big mouth too soon. This year I have oxalis all over, red and green. Spraying in the grass made the leaves dry up, but I just went out and looked,and they are all back and growing again.