Coaxed A Pot of Purple Shamrocks To Grow

Smol Girl welcomed our non-furry house guest.

When V went away for a vacation, she asked me to plant-sit. She said it was a sad plant that dropped all its leaves. She thought that if she shifted it to me, it might give it a higher chance of survival. Well. I have no green thumbs. All my friends know that. When I plant-sit, I literally let the pot sit there and water it every three days. That's it. 

Nobody dares to give me plants as gifts. Not without asking me first. I don't like plants very much. I don't like flowers either. I'm allergic to soil, remember? This is why my home has no plants in that way. I have a number of artificial greens from IKEA though. I'm especially uninterested in gardening. Also, I can't have plants dotting my floor. That's too attractive to the dog. She doesn't usually nibble at the plants, but just in case... Many plants are toxic to dogs, and most soil bits would induce diarrhea if ingested in larger quantities (relative to a 7kg dog).

After two days, I took a hard look at the plant. It was sad. It had like three stalks of leaves left. I was like, hey I think I know this plant. It's oxalis triangularis or purple shamrocks. This is highly toxic to domestic furries. Not that I know anything about plants. But I Googled about its care. I didn't really want to have to tell V that her plant died. I didn't need to think about sunlight or otherwise since my patio never gets direct sunlight. I wouldn't have minded growing herbs, except that nothing would survive. Even airplants conk out after a few weeks. 

Rejuvented plant.

I sighed and decided to re-pot it. There was nothing to lose eh. Spread out giant pieces of paper and plastic sheets on the patio floor, put on gloves and dug out the plant. Oh my. This plant isn't dead. The roots were wet, but alive; not rotten. There were plenty of fat orange bulbs/tubers in the soil. ARE THEY HIBERNATING?!!! Apparently the oxalis triangularis goes dormant after a period of intense growth. Okaaaay. I aired out these tubers, then placed everything back into the pot. And waited. 

Lo and behold! The tubers sprouted! Woah. They grew and grew. Even after V got back, the pot sat on my patio to continue growing. It coincided with a busy period at work for me, so I couldn't get the plant back to V; she was neck-deep catching up with work too. Once the pot stabilized, I found a window, and zipped out to transport the happy pot back home.

A month later, V sent me a photo to tell me that she found an ideal spot for it while watering it sparsely . This corner is a balance between direct light and bright shade. Ha! I still dunno anything about plants. But I can see that this manja pot of cheerful weeds is really rather chirpy. V sent another photo yesterday. It even flowered. Oof. I'm so amused by this little plant.