48 Sherman Drive Beaufort, SC 29907 [email protected] (843) 525 9454 and (843) 592-8150 (try both)

Naturescapes of Beaufort, SC

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Wood Sorrel (Oxalis sp.) 10Apr2009 029 (3)

Yes, I posted this same picture a few days ago.. I am posting it again because I forgot to tell you anything about it. My stepmother (Rose Payne) took the picture at Tick Hill Nature Preserve. Tick Hill is my Dad (Jerry Payne) and Rose’s place in Bibb Co., Ga. The plants we are selling in the nursery came from there. It is Oxalis violacea (Violet Wood-sorrel) a native spring-blooming perennial. Sometimes it also blooms in the fall. It usually goes dormant in the summer. Unlike the annual yellow wood-sorrels and the larger pink or white flowered South American Wood-sorrel (Oxalis rubra), this species is very well-behaved in the garden. It grows only a few inches tall and spread slowly by rhizomes to make tight patches. At Tick Hill, it grows on hard red clay (which  is often as hard as adobe). in deciduous shade. It would prefer deciduous shade here, but Beaufort County is dominated by evergreens. In my nursery it grows where it is partially shaded by massive live oaks on one side and pines on the other. Where we planted it in Ann Baruch’s Spring Island garden it grows in moist circumneutral under a frequently thinned  live oak (Quercus virginiana). A few years ago, I found one population of this species in northern Beaufort County. There it was circumneutral and wet. So..it is fairly adaptable to moisture. We are propagating  some from the Beaufort County population now. It is a slow grower so we hope to have sell some from the local population in a few years. All the wood-sorrels that I have run into: the annual yellow species, the robust clumping South American Wood-sorrel  and this native woodland species have edible leaves and flowers. They are full of oxalic acid which makes them deliciously tart. Deer don’t seem to like sour things though..they leave them alone.