How to Grow Shamrocks
It seems a proper time of year to be talking about how to grow Shamrocks. And the good news is that you’re going to have a ton of choices about this charming (but potentially invasive in Southern climates) plants. To begin with the wood-sorrel family contains about 900 species of these plants – from annuals to perennials – from rhizomes to bulbs.
All share the three lobed leaves and “shamrock” look though so let’s simply focus on the more readily available gardening types and pretend the weedier forms don’t exist for the moment.
Most of the plants purchased in the last few days are bulbous types. Lovely, large green leaves that fold up at night topped off with white or rose flowers. Understand that if you give them as much sunlight as you can in these winter months and then semi-shade during the high summer, they’ll be quite pleased.
Watering means soaking the plant but then allowing the soil to dry out until it is just dry to the touch. Then water again. It may take several days to dry out, it may take a week. As long as that soil is damp, don’t water. Overwatering will rot out the bulb and you’ll lose the plant.
Feed with a half strength houseplant food every week. Your plant will love being fed and will produce even more flowers.
Keep cool. This plant loves cool temperatures (in the high 50F is great) and blooms for much longer when kept cool.
If you follow these simple guidelines, you’ll be able to grow shamrocks right up to the summertime. But then something quite interesting is likely going to happen. Your plant will start dropping a few leaves here and there and then will suddenly go all yellow. It’s NOT dead. It has gone dormant. Leave it alone, dry out the soil and don’t water it. Store in a cool dark place.
In the fall, bring the plant out into the sunlight, start feeding and watering and watch it spring back to life.
If my plant got too straggly in the depths of winter (it bloomed all winter) then I’d simply cut it right to the ground and allow it to resprout and rebloom.
Growing shamrocks successfully means you do have to watch out for spider mites and aphids as these indoor pests will snack on the tender leaves.
The only other thing (and it’s truly optional) is to hoist a few next week and invite the little people to visit. A healthy growing shamrock plant will go a long way to keeping them happy.
And that’s how to grow shamrocks.
I have a red shamrock and it has never gone dormant although it does put out it’s flowers in the winter and not in the summer. I have found thid plant to be a real pick-me-up from the winter blahs. It has purple flowers which are just pure delight to look at!
Keep up the hard work, we all enjoy your tidbits on life!
Where vcan I buy shamrock plants?
Henry – darn near anywhere. I saw a bunch at a big chain hardware store the other day. It’s the right time of year for them for sure.
Cherry – what you may find is that it is not one of the bulbous types but herbaceous or ?? But no matter – if you keep it alive and it blooms, life is good.
“it’s NOT dead. It has gone dormant.” Who knew? I buy a new plant every March and keep it in a bay window at my kitchen sink. In the spring I move it out to a screened in porch and sure enough, when it gets hot, it turns yellow so onto the compost it goes.
This year I’ll try to store it and revive it when it cools off next fall. I love an experiment. This should be fun. Thanks for the info, Doug.
Jan
Jan you’re NOT alone on this. A rather LOT of those plants go into the dumpster/compost pile when they go yellow. Follow those directions and you’ll be able to divide it the following year and have multiple pots.
Doug,
Picked you up at LED digest, found your site, subscribed to your blog.
I just moved from California to Arkansas. Actually, Pocahontas, Arkansas near the Missouri border in North Eastern Arkansas.
I read your article on Cypress mulch. You said you would not use that in the South.
So my question is: I want to be organic in the garden, what mulch should I use in my area, that will break down quickly? I have a large amount of Cedar mulch available at the right price….free. Also, any comments on composting in my area? The back end of my property has wonderful leaf mold, thought I would add some to my compost pile. Well, this is a learning experience for me. I will be reading your blog regularly.
Ed Clark
@Ed Clark -
Cedar is good but slow to break down. I’ll be using straw on large sections of this new garden to boost organic matter quickly. Leave the leaf mould for the trees although you can take a handfull or two for making compost tea that’s high in fungal properties. This would be great for establishing trees and shrubs.
Just bought some shamrock seeds and found your site. Thanks for the info! I, too, would have thought I’d killed the plant if it went yellow.
Really helpful article, thanks for publishing it!
P.S. Know the Little People will love this, too.