How to Care for a Shamrock Flower

Place your shamrock flower in a cool room with very bright light. A north or south windowsill with direct sun is best until summertime. While the plant likes to be kept cool, it loves all the sunshine that you can provide. The ideal temperature range is around 65 to 75 degrees F during the day and between 50 and 65 F overnight. Temperatures above 75 F will signal the plant that it's time to go dormant prematurely.

Water your shamrock flower just enough to barely but evenly moisten the soil surface while it's actively growing. Allow it to dry out slightly before watering again.

Feed your shamrock flower once every two or three weeks. Use a good all-purpose houseplant fertilizer. Follow the instructions carefully.

Use clean, sharp scissors to prune out spent flowers when they fade.

Remove rapidly yellowing leaves after they turn brown and die when your shamrock plant begins showing these signs of entering dormancy. This is perfectly normal and may occur up to three times each year. Move it to a cool, dark room and stop watering and fertilizing until the plant wakes up and begins to grow again. You can expect these normal resting periods to last about three months.

Move the shamrock back into bright light when new shoots begin to emerge --- the signal that dormancy has ended. Resume normal watering and feeding.

Divide shamrock flowers after dormancy has broken, if you wish. These plants love being crowded, so re-potting probably won't really be necessary for quite some time. Take it out of the pot and break off the new bulbs that have grown around the perimeter of the parent plant. Return the original plant to its pot.

Combine equal parts sand and potting soil and fill 3-inch pots with the mixture. Plant the new bulbs just under the soil surface and water enough to evenly moisten the soil. Place the pots on a bright windowsill out of direct sun. You'll soon have more shamrocks to share with friends.