Fragaria / Strawberry

'Mara des Bois' 5/2/10

Wild strawberry 6/11/10

Fragaria

vesca
x ananassa 'Mara des Bois'

The Fragaria vesca, or wild strawberry, is apparently a clumper, and it mounded into a lush, bright green plant and stayed nice all summer.  Held its leaves very late in Fall.  Tiny flowers and fruit.  This is nice at the front of the border as a green filler.  Originally I had it at the front of the Birch Garden, then moved it next to hatchway. Finally, in 2012 I took it out.

I planted 12 bareroot 'Mara des Bois' in two strawberry jars (which left some pockets empty); several didn’t take... and I ordered 9 more!  These fruit from July to September (everbearing).  Small and intensely flavorful!

In 2009 I got some nice berries, just a few, but the plants that lived thrived, sending out long runners.  Nice Fall color too! 

'Mara des Bois' 7/21/10, replanted in plastic trough

But in 2010 these got eaten, leaves looked slug chomped, but no other signs of slugs.  A few berries, then they stopped producing or even putting out runners.  I took them out of the strawberry jars (too hard to keep watered, and I may have overwatered at fruit set, causing the problem).  I put them in plastic pots on the patio.

They were far too crowded there, and although they looked much better and did produce a few berries, I needed to do something with these.  They really need to spread out in real garden soil... where to put them?

These poor strawberries have been planted and replanted so many times in so many places. As of 2012 what is left of the original plants are bordering the gravel garden.

In these photos you can see the long runners stretching out into the gravel next to the nasturtiums and rocks.

9/16/12

9/17/12

I need to cut the runners for better berry production.

They were bearing all summer and into fall, but Mr. Chipmunk got most of the crop. He would steal the ripe fruits, eat only part of a berry, and leave it on one of the rocks in the sitting area.

10/5/12

Holy cow, a bumper crop in 2013.  I mean bumper! Bowls like this day after day and so many more berries on the plants. Wow - after all the moves and transplants and failures in containers, and the depradations of the chipmunk last year, these plants look full and lush and are spreading beautifully. And bearing delicious fruit.

5/31/13

I was utterly amazed at the strawberries all season in 2013.

I even dug some up since they were crowding the line of Tide Hill boxwoods in the gravel garden. I replanted a few, moved some, and put some in a big red container, just to fill the pot.

Sadly, 2014 was not to be a repeat of the bounteous year before. I had plenty of red jewel globes, but they were all tasteless and watery.

It must be that strawberries need just the right amount of water at just the right time to be their best.

I moved plants around more in 2014, since they were crowding other plantings along the edge of the gravel garden -- that can't be good for them.

6/6/14  So pretty but not very tasty

2015 did not repeat the bounty of 2013 either. The harvest was quite small, much of it got eaten by chipmunks and birds, and what there was did not have a lot of taste.

The plants were crowding the line of boxwoods along the gravel garden and I started digging out runners and clumps and put them in a long basketweave planter.

9/22/15

There were only a few left after I dug so many up, and I had to put down a lot of mulch to control the oxalis that was overtaking this spot. So by end of summer the strawberry patch was no longer really a patch.

9/24/15

9/28/15 after taking the strawberry plants out

I took them all out and the area around the boxwoods is cleaner looking now, setting off the structural look of the tidy boxwoods.