Associate the oxalis

In a flowerbed

With their creeping form, Oxalis will naturally find their place at the front of a contemporary flowerbed. To create a vibrant display, pair them with other small creeping perennials and colourful flowering plants, such as campanulas, Phlox, Diascias, hardy geraniums, alchemillas, and pinks. Don’t forget Heucheras and Erigeron karvinskianus with their airy flowers to lighten the scene.

In the background, add a touch of lightness by incorporating some ornamental grasses, such as Stipa tenuifolia or Carex comans ‘Bronze Form’. To add even more volume and movement, consider installing a Gaura, a bushy sage, a verbena, a Gypsophila, some Echinops, a few Nepetas, and some Kansas plumes.

Note that with certain varieties of Oxalis, such as Oxalis purpurea ‘Garnet’ or Oxalis obtusa, flowers bloom in winter, adding a splash of colour to the garden during this resting phase. You can pair them with Muscari or early-flowering bulbs like botanical tulips or Crocus to enjoy continuous flowering.

Gaura, Heuchera, Oxalis deppei, and Carex comans ‘Bronze Form’

In an exotic garden

Oxalis are rather frost-sensitive, and most varieties will prefer regions with mild winters. They will thrive easily along the Mediterranean or in an exotic garden, but also in a greenhouse. They can be planted at the edge of a flowerbed, formed of plants that also enjoy the mild winter conditions of these regions. The graphic and original foliage of oxalis will pair wonderfully with exotic-looking plants, such as Dahlias, sedums, and even annual petunias. Also plant cannas and crocosmias, which will add originality with their brightly coloured flowers in warm tones.

To add verticality, you can install grasses, Agaves, and cordylines. At the back of the flowerbed, add a Fatsia, a Schefflera, a palm, or a banana plant for their remarkable foliage. In the background, a Callistemon and a hibiscus will provide a colourful touch with their beautiful exotic flowers.

Canna ‘Durban’, Oxalis ‘deppei’, Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ with Dahlias, Japanese banana plant, and Mangave ‘Mission to Mars’

In a rockery

Oxalis are excellent creeping plants for dressing a rockery, even in the gaps between stones. They thrive in well-drained, even dry soil. However, most varieties are frost-sensitive and therefore prefer a Mediterranean climate. Outside these regions, it is better to choose Oxalis adenophylla or Oxalis deppei, which can withstand cold down to -18 °C.

In a dry rockery, you can pair them with Helianthemum, Spanish lawn, lavender, bushy sage, aubrieta, or even small asters to extend flowering into autumn. You can also introduce other creeping and easy-to-grow perennials like Arabis, Alchemilla, Delosperma, and Mouse Ear.

Among the rocks and stones, you might consider succulent plants like houseleek, sedums, and don’t forget campanulas. Also, add some verticality by installing an agave, a spurge, and even an Opuntia for a touch of originality.

Oxalis adenophylla, Aster alpinus ‘Goliath’, lavender, wall campanula, and Cistus from Portugal

In a pot or planter

With their beautiful graphic leaves, shaped like a clover, Oxalis perfectly decorates a pot, hanging basket, trough, or window box. Additionally, growing them in a pot allows you to easily bring the Oxalis indoors before winter arrives to protect them from the cold. You can create colourful displays by adding a hardy geranium, other Oxalis, a diascia, a lobelia, a campanula, some pansies, a nemesia, and a verbena.

You can also create lovely contrasts by adding other perennials with colourful or differently shaped foliage. For example, the purple leaves of Oxalis triangularis will pair beautifully with the foliage of a ivy, a fern, a Carex, and a Lysimachia nummularia ‘aurea’. You can add a heuchera with pink-purple foliage, a Ipomoea ‘Jet Black’, a coleus, and a black ophiopogon to create a beautiful alternation of purple and green. For a perfect scene, also install some flowering annuals, such as alyssum, impatiens, petunias, and calibrachoas.

Oxalis triangularis with purple foliage alongside an alyssum, a coleus, a Lysimachia nummularia ‘aurea’, an Ipomoea ‘Jet Black’, and an impatiens

Indoors

Finally, indoors, Oxalis can be grown all year round without difficulty, in pots or hanging. It can also be placed outside in summer, then brought indoors or into a conservatory at the first signs of autumn. This lovely plant will thrive in a bright room, next to a window facing east or west, or behind a light curtain to the south. Its geographical silhouette will pair beautifully with exotic-looking plants. Place your Oxalis next to a fern, a Pilea peperomioides, a Ficus pumila, a Colocasia, a banana plant, not forgetting Agaves, Mangaves, Aloe, and other succulents.

You can also choose an Oxalis with winter flowering, such as the cultivar Oxalis purpurea ‘Garnet’, whose bright pink flowers with a golden heart bloom from October to March. To accompany it, plant a few bulbs of hyacinth or Muscari.

For winter flowering: a ‘Jan Bos’ Hyacinth, an Oxalis purpurea ‘Garnet’, and a ‘Grape Ice’ Muscari

For further reading

• Discover our range of Oxalis
• To learn everything, check out our complete guide on Oxalis: planting, growing, and caring for