"simy1" wrote in message
ups.com...

Roger wrote:
Oxalis stricta (?) or common yellow oxalis annually invades my streetside
ground cover plants for about six months, from November through May, and
starves them of light, making for very spotty spring growth for the
invaded
prostrate rosemary, red apple succulent, myoporum, and miniature ice
plant
cover. They are persistent, nearly alien in their tenacity, and seem to
spread by seed, rhizome, and bulblets, so pulling does little good, even
in
our soft loamy coastal soil in N. California. Since they die out from
June
to October, letting them take over means barren ground in the summer
months.
Is there any practical control solution outside of individually digging
the
thousands of plants?
I would guess oxalis is in the clover family, but wouldn't clover control
chemicals also damage my four ground cover plants?
Thanks for any ideas!

Oxalis does not spread by rhizome, only by seed. If the ground covers
were thicker, oxalis would be reduced. You could also consider adding
wood chips by hand in the ground cover. That will be a total pain but
it will give you a few years of respite.

By the way, Oxalis seeds are not destroyed, even in the hotest compost pile,
so do not try and compost oxalis when it has gone to seed.

John Henry Wheeler
Washington, DC
USDA Zone 7