“Creeping woodsorrel” is too tame a name for this marauder. It creeps, yes, but it also runs, jumps, and flies! This is the worst weed in my greenhouse, and I recently found a patch of it growing outside near the sidewalk, too. The seed capsules explode when ripe and send the seeds high and low and to considerable distances. And digging them out of pots is almost impossible without completely uprooting all contents.

Oxalis is one of my favorite plant families. There are some amazing succulent and bulbs in this group and just generally small plants with beautiful flowers. This one, when seen out of its maleficent context is also attractive. But when it is shooting seeds all over the greenhouse, it isn’t pretty anymore. Pretty poison.

My future plans for this plant are to wipe it out completely with some diligent manual removal.