Happy St.Patrick's Day from Lil' Ireland, Dougherty Iowa Is clover and shamrock the same?

image from freeclipartof.com 

      Happy St. Patrick’s Day. Our day here in Dougherty is going to be very nice.  Temperatures return to near 70F(21C) with stronger winds and a high fire danger.

We will be celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with a soup supper tonight in our Irish community of Dougherty.  One day a year, I am Becky O’Litterer.  Stay safe all of you. 

Australia family and friends have celebrated March 17th, they are into March 18th.They too will be having temperatures in the 70F( 21C).  Evelyn said there are times when she would call dad, and the temperatures were similar.  Today is one of them. Enjoy and stay safe.
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What should a greenhouse grower talk about on St. Patrick’s Day but shamrocks and 4-leaf clovers.  This is enlightening.  
Shamrocks and Four-Leaf Clovers: What's the Difference?
Many of us remember hunting for that elusive “four-leaf clover” as children, and we’ve all seen that green shamrock on St. Patrick’s Day. That brings us to today’s garden musings. Let’s talk about what a shamrock really is—and what it isn’t!
The shamrock is a symbol that we commonly associate with St. Patrick’s Day and with Ireland. It can be seen all over St. Patrick’s Day decor, representing the rebirth of spring. Sometimes, the shamrock is depicted as a four-leaf clover, but this isn’t quite accurate. Traditionally, a shamrock is a three-leaf clover.
Why three leaves and not four? According to legend, St. Patrick used a three-leaf shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity, with one leaf representing the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, respectively. More recently, the four-leaf clover has also come to represent the Holy Trinity, with the fourth leaf symbolizing God’s Grace.
In Ireland, the plants that are most often associated with the name “shamrock” are the suckling clover (Trifolium dubium) and the white clover (Trifolium repens). Both clovers are native to Europe but can be found throughout the world today. Their genus name, Trifolium, means “having three leaves”—an appropriate description!
White clover is thought to be one of the “true” shamrock plants.  Shamrock [refers to] any of several similar-appearing trifoliate plants—i.e., plants each of whose leaves is divided into three leaflets. Plants called shamrock include the wood sorrel (Oxalis acetosella) of the family Oxalidaceae, or any of various plants of the pea family (Fabaceae), including white clover (Trifolium repens), suckling clover (T. dubium), and black medic (Medicago lupulina). Wood sorrel is shipped from Ireland to other countries in great quantity for St. Patrick’s Day.
As kids, we would spend hours searching for that lucky four-leaf clover—and often come home empty-handed! A four-leaf clover isn’t a special variety of clover; it’s just an unusual mutation of a three-leaf clover, but it’s a “lucky” symbol because it’s so hard to find. In fact, your chances of finding a four-leaf clover are 1 in 10,000! That’s where the luck comes in, apparently. According to popular lore, if you do find a four-leaf clover, giving it to someone else doubles your luck.
Traditionally, four leaves were considered lucky because they reflected the shape of a cross and were thought to be magical or sacred. Eve supposedly took a four-leaf clover with her when she was banished from the Garden of Eden, too.
In the Middle Ages, it was believed that carrying a four-leaf clover would enable you to see fairies, recognize witches and evil spirits, and be protected from the evil eye. Even dreaming of clover was supposed to bring good luck.
Superstitions aside, clover is a valuable plant in many ways. Bees and other pollinators can’t resist their flowers (red clover is especially attractive to bumblebees), and the plants can be turned into the soil as green manure, too. Additionally, the roots host nitrogen-fixing bacteria that enrich the soil, and the plants are high-quality forage for many animals. The reasons to grow clover are endless!
In recent years, the idea of growing clover has been making a comeback. White clover (Trifolium repens) is well known for crowding out broadleaf weeds while growing harmoniously with grass. It will thrive in areas that drain poorly or are too shady for a conventional lawn, making it a great grass alternative.
As a legume, clovers have the ability to convert nitrogen into fertilizer using bacteria in their root system (a process called nitrogen fixation), practically eliminating the need for additional fertilization.
Despite today’s push for perfectly green lawns (which often involves a lot of chemicals), clover was not always viewed as a weed. The University of Minnesota Extension Service points out that, until relatively recently, it was standard practice to include clover seed in lawn seed mixes:
Until the 1950s, clover was included in lawn seed mixes, as it was regarded as a prestigious lawn plant. It may be considered an attractive, low-maintenance ground cover that is soft to walk on, mows well and will fill in thin spots in a yard.
Today, it seems clover is returning as a more eco-friendly lawn alternative. Since it is nitrogen-fixating, it can supply its own nutrients to poor soil. Overseeding clover seed into your existing lawn is an easy way to establish a clover lawn. For lawns, the most popular is the white clover because it is relatively low growing, tolerates close mowing, and outcompetes weeds.
The last piece of the shamrock puzzle is a houseplant that also goes by the name “shamrock.” It usually crops up in grocery stores and nurseries around St. Patrick’s Day. This plant is not related to clover (the “true” shamrock) but is in the same genus as wood sorrel (Oxalis).
Oxalis are native to many regions of the world, but they’re most numerous in the tropics, which is where the houseplant species come from. Depending on the species, they can have green or purple leaves and white or pink flowers, and some cultivars, such as ‘Irish Mist,’ have green leaves flecked with white. The whole plant is photophilic, meaning the leaves and flowers close up at night and open wide again in the morning.
Taken from https://www.almanac.com/clover-shamrocks-and-oxalis-whats-difference
Till next time, Becky Litterer, Becky’s Greenhouse, Dougherty Iowa [email protected]  641-794-3337  cell 903-9365  Facebook Becky Kerndt Litterer or Becky’s Greenhouse