One of my all-time favourite plants: Oxalis Triangularis

So, what are Oxalis Triangularis exactly?

Oxalis Triangularis, also known as the Purple Shamrock or False Shamrock, is a plant which from what i’ve seen, people find really pretty. It's called "triangularis" because its leaves are shaped like triangles, and they're a deep purple color, which makes them stand out. The leaves open up during the day and close at night, which is really interesting to watch! People like to grow it in their homes (or outside) because it's not too big and can fit on windowsills (ours are on a windowsill aswell). Taking care of them is not hard, so even if you're new to plants, you can still keep them healthy.

How did i discover them?

Once upon a day i went to my local grocery store. I wasn’t planning on taking any plants home with me, but as i was walking towards the exit, a small pot with pretty purple plants caught my attention. I loved them! To be honest, i thought they were flowers at first, but they are not, which makes them even better!

What i did to make them thrive

After a couple days on my windowsill, they were starting to not look as happy as they did before. They were sad no matter what i did. I was worried they were all going to die. Because i did NOT want that to happen (they were the prettiest and one of the only plants i had around that time) i took it upon me to try and save them. I did not have a lot of knowledge or experience, so i did what i thought was best. I took the plants out of their soil and learned that the stems were growing out of a tuber, which is super interesting. About 4 or 5 stems per tuber. I separated baby tubers from big tubers and put all the plants in little vases with water. a couple plants/tubers per vase basically. This looked super cute, like i just got a bunch of little flowers 🙂

And they stayed like that for weeks! they were happy again. Roots began to grow out of the tubers, which i knew was a good sign. Weeks pass and i decided it was time to put some of them in soil, just to see how they would grow. Unfortunately, one plant broke off of its tuber. But i realised this was perfect for an experiment. I put the stem in soil and treated it the same way i did the other Oxalis plants (now in soil). I did not believe my eyes when after a week or two a new Oxalis was sprouting right next to it! how was this even possible without a tuber? it just duplicated itself basically.

They were really flourishing. They began duplicating themselves like crazy. One pot became three pots, then four, then five and eventually i put them all in one big pot. Now i have a beautiful big group of Oxalis.

Basically just super cool plants

As they were doubling in size numbers, they were also literally doubling in size. The biggest leaves were now almost as big as my palm! Super cool to see and i pat do myself on the back for that. In summary, i propagated them in water, gave them liquid fertilizer (once), provided lots of (morning) sunlight, watered them regularly and lastly; had a lot of patience. With these simple things I managed to save them and make them even better as they were when i bought them.

These small purple plants have now become some of the prettiest plants ive ever seen. I just found out recently too that they can grow even bigger than they are now! I’m so excited and i can’t wait to see what the progress will be in a year. Truly an amazing and almost out-of-this-world plant.