Do you grow the shamrock plant? They are usually readily available, although not often at this time of year. You will find them most often being sold in March, in cute green containers, for St. Patrick’s day.
That’s not how or why I acquired this one. I had used it as a quasi-spiller in a container planting (of indoor plants) about 3 years ago. This autumn when I finally divided up the container, I potted this separately and it took off.
Shamrock plants are actually bulbs (oxalis is their botanical name) so you don’t want to let them dry out completely. If bulbs dry out completely, it often triggers them to go dormant–not what you want.
Since I potted this up, it has not stopped blooming–even in my cold gray winter–with these little white flowers. They’re charming.
A caution though: if you tend to be neat and not to like messy plants, skip this one. I am forever sweeping the little white flowers up (for me, that’s a happy problem, but I know it would make some people crazy). And every couple of weeks, I have to go around the plant pulling out dead leaves. Again, I don’t care but this is a tendency of this plant–the older leaves die very quickly.
But any plant that blooms for me from September into January–and shows no sign of stopping–and has such pretty leaf coloring as well is fine with me. This is the back of the leaf.
There are purple leafed varieties as well but I think the green with this reverse is almost more interesting.
Next time you see one of these plants–most likely in March–give it a try.
Gardendaze 
Good morning Karla
I had a piece of the maroon oxalis somehow get planted in the soil beneath a dead tree trunk in my garden and it thrived all summer. In the fall it measured about 24 inches wide. I potted it up this fall and will be giving it away to friends as the plants fill in. I don’t mind tending to it all winter. Its therapeutic.
I always enjoy your posts- thank you for doing them.
Happy New Year
Jeanne
Happy New Year to you as well, Jeanne! I totally agree that tending to indoor plants is therapeutic. And how wonderful that a “surprise” plant has become such a wonderful plant for you that you’re able to share it with others. Perhaps it was carried in on a bird’s foot or by a little chipmunk. I love to imagine how plants show up in my garden, don’t you?
Karla
Oh my; it looks too much like weedy types of oxalis. It naturalized in the garden of a home I lived in years ago, but was quite well behaved. I could have removed it if I had wanted to. It was just too pretty.
The weedy ones here never look THAT good–but I do tend to agree and prior to this have stayed away from genuses like this that are basically tamed weeds. I won’t grow persicaria either, even though some of the cultivars are nice. All I see is a weed.
Karla