Troubles with my buddy oxalis

by Emily Simek


It was me who instigated the spread of oxalis bulbs throughout the garden, now I’m in it for the oft quoted seven years of weeding. Oxalis is a clever plant that spreads via the dispersal of underground bulbs, or bulbines, which break off from its primary root. It propagates surreptitiously, working out of sight below ground, rather than by showy means like wind blown seed. This results in an extremely slow spread when soil is left undisturbed. However, the gardener who digs up and transports soil from A to B to C (me) is oxalis’ best friend.

Once a week, I tease oxalis out from between indigenous plants and edible exotics, processing my feelings on this situation. 


Pros:

• I actually mostly look forward to weeding time, I squat low and spend time between the plant foliage, looking closely in a long form way that I probably wouldn’t do otherwise.
• Oxalis’ sprouting bulbs are a seasonal indicator that soils are moist and rains are here, it’s time for cool season planting!
• I like to forage for oxalis flowers along the waterways on Wurundjeri Country, using them to make a vivid yellow dye to colour textiles
• To nibble on their leaves is quite refreshing, also known as soursop 
• And always —lessons in humility*

Cons:

• That feeling after weeding when one day passes and more oxalis has sprouted!
• I choose not to harvest oxalis flowers at home. If you let the plant mature to flowering stage it will produce an abundance of reproductive bulbs, and the density of new plants can smother other plants in the garden, hence its status as a weed. 

Outcome:
- Relationship status with oxalis is complicated.
- Plan to monitor my emotional response to oxalis over several years to reach a definitive conclusion on personal weed status.


*I want to pull out big weeds; big weeds gone = productive. Oxalis teaches humility in this regard. This is because it is only as oxalis matures that reproductive bulbs form along its primary root. Pulling out a big plant causes these bulbs to break off into the soil, often advantaging the plant to spread even further, through easy spillage of bulb-laden soil, or transplanting something from one location to another, and unknowingly bringing oxalis along for the ride. The advice is therefore to try to remove oxalis early in it’s lifecycle, before new bulbs form. Maybe leave the big weed be (for now). Hint: it’s actually harder to know when to leave a weed be, rather than to pull and purge. Thanks oxalis for helping me become more aware of my emotional impulses.



Draft, last edited 24.6.26