Strawberries

The earliest fruit in my yard is the wild strawberry, Fragaria virginiana. Following the white blooms, I start checking my patch regularly starting on Mother’s Day. If the strawberries have yellow flowers, they are a non-native mock strawberry, Potentilla indica. The mock strawberry fruits don’t have as much flavor so I pull them out to make space for the native.

Wild strawberries are small but sweet. The fragrance of the ripe fruit can lead you to them. Strawberries are the first edible fruit to ripen in May and are usually fruiting heavily in June. Collecting strawberries can be a lot of stooping and looking under leaves. Sometimes the rabbits and turtles beat me too them as they have more patience than I do.

Native Americans call strawberries "oteagh-minick" (heart berry) due to their heart-shaped appearance. In 1794 Loskiel wrote that “Strawberries grow so large and in such abundance that whole plains are covered with them as with a fine scarlet cloth.” The scientific name Fragaria refers to the fragrance of the plant. Thoreau compares the smell to the “sweet scent of the earth”, the essence of spring.

Wild strawberry can be used as a fast-spreading ground cover. It grows prolifically in part shade with rich soil, growing quickly with big leaves. Although the plant seems healthy, shade growth produced less flowers and fruit. To get earlier and better fruits give the plant full sun and well drained soil. These plants will have smaller leaves and spread more slowly but fruit better. When looking for strawberry to harvest in nature, check in sandy rocky areas with good sun exposure. I find them often along gravel roads that have been cut into a sandy hillside. They also grow well along the edge of driveways, roads, sidewalks, and foundations.  Wild strawberry is a rapidly spreading groundcover that grows by rhizomes. It is easy to propagate the plants by cutting off the runners and planting them into freshly cleared soil. Wild strawberry leaves are green through the winter and young strawberry leaves turn red in fall through winter.

It is not often that I find enough strawberries to have a supply to cook with. Usually, I eat them all while collecting. When I do have a small abundance, I like to eat them on my cereal. If I have a large abundance, which has only happened once, I make jam. I love strawberry jam! I would like to some day make dehydrated strawberries, maybe this spring I will give it a try.