Re: [gardeners] alpine strawberries
penny x stamm (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Sun, 13 Dec 1998 12:42:21 -0500
Carolyn and David et all, I've been growing Alpine strawberries
for about 15 years -- no "crop planting", just random plants
behind the veggie garden, for they occasionally just run....
Some people use them as a border plant, or to populate the
sides of a sidewalk. They have never been prolific bearers of
fruit for me, but they are always healthy, happy looking little
plants, usually with white fruit blossoms, any time during the
summer. Early this particular year I decided to eliminate all
the Alpine strawberry plants -- nobody much culls the fruit,
such little as it is. However, one little bush survived total
neglect this summer, and is still happy looking, ignoring that
our weather goes down to 30* at night. If I allow this one to
multiply, I may place them all out as a front border in the
veggie garden, not sure.
I believe that they might be called Alsatian strawberries. In the
trade they go by a French name ('fraise du bois', or strawberry-
of-the-woods). Don't know of any particular cultivar..
Some people hate to have a border planting around a flower bed,
one of my neighbors, for instance. She was infuriated when she had
professionals come in and create a huge mixed bed across the back
of her property, and they had included a border planting of something
uniform and white. OTOH, I have 10 annual flower beds, 9 of which are
always a monoculture with a color theme (shade to full sun), the 10th of
which is a mixed pot pouri. Around this last large bed this summer I
planted a single row of dark purple ageratum, and you could not guess
what effect it had: it created the shape of a Grand Piano, and
everyone not only giggled but oohed and ahhad. Best effect I've had!
That is why, in my case, I might enjoy a border of Alpines around our
modest veggie garden...
Cultivation hints: do not plant deep; at least some full sun; regular
watering; fertilize in spring. For THIS type of strawberry, do not
destroy
the mother plant, for it will bloom the following year.
Penny, NY zone 6
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