Question
Hi Darlene,

I picked 3 little bulbs of the plant below from my daughter's flower bed. I loved the color. You had given me a number of sites to see pix to identify houseplants. (I use all of them) I finally found this beauty on a couple of sites. I cannot believe how many varieties there are. One site said they make beautiful hanging baskets, but they're so sparce & spindly. I now have 16 plants in small pots from those bulbs, & I would love to pot them. Any suggestions? Are they only ground cover? I was thinking of a window box, but I don't know how tall they get.
Help?

OXALIS REGNELLII ATROPURPUREA [TRIANGULARIS] OXA HP CGH $ 4.25 Incredible "Red Velvet Shamrock"--a striking selection with handsome dusky glowing purple foliage with a central vivid violet flame on each triangular leaflet; low statured mound topped with many delicately toned lilac fls. A knockout with a distinct winter dormancy cycle (unlike the species). Has been featured and pictured in many articles recently

http://rareplants.com/tropicalbulbs.html

One more thing. I have a "corn plant", well several. I received one from my husband's funeral 2 yrs ago, & have cut it when it got too tall, & now have 6 over 4ft plants. I noticed that a couple have browned tips on the leaves. I made sure that they were not touching the wall. What am I doing wrong?

Thanks so much,
pat  ; )

Answer
Pat,

I'm glad you fiured out what you have. Oxalis can be planted very close together to make a hanging basket or a window box appear full. You can have the bulbs as close as 1 inch apart and they will do fine. That will make it appear fuller. I would reccommend that you fertilize eveRY 2-4 weeks to help them fill out a bit more.

As for your corn plant there are 2 reasons for brown spots and both involve water. They hate too much water and the first sign is brown leaf tips. They like to be dry for several days before being watered again. They also cannot stand water with chlorine or flouride in it. That causes brown spots on the leaves. If you use city water that has that then you need to let it sit in an open bucket for 48 hours prior to using the water on your corn plant and the flouride and chlorine will disipate into the air leaving the water safe to use. Good luck.

Darlene