Fruit of the Month: the Wild Strawberry

Fragaria Vesca

Tiny, deep red, of fragrant perfume and taste, wild strawberries are a tempting addition to the garden. 

The plant is perennial and can be cultivated as a border plant, groundcover or as a harvestable crop in the vegie patch. It spreads by runners so can be invasive, but it is evergreen, has pretty white flowers and ample fruit in late spring and early summer.

Although indigenous to our area, fragaria vesca is hard to find in the wild as the deer devour the leaves, inhibiting fruiting and propagation.

In Milan and Paris famous gelaterie and glaciers actually charge more for their fragoline di bosco or fraises des bois sorbets.

 

We pick and eat ours as they ripen; a true harvest to decorate a fruit tart or turn into a super-sorbet has yet to happen.

Perhaps we need to plant more.