Wild Strawberry is an excellent ground cover! It grows in the woods and also in more open areas in the sunshine. It spreads by stolon (an above ground rhizome of sorts) and can also reseed itself.
Most people are familiar with the look of the strawberry plant, leaves in threes, with 5-petaled white flowers either just below the leaves or poking up above the leaves. Wild Strawberry is like this but the resulting fruits are much smaller and much more flavorful. However, if you want to make strawberry jam, prepare to pick berries for hours! ;)
The flowers of wild strawberry can be male, female or perfect (having both male and female parts).
Some say that birds will go after the berries but I have never had a problem either with my wild strawberries or my cultivated ones. However, they provide good food for birds, small mammals, also slugs, stink bugs and a whole host of other insects that use the plant in some way. There is a wasp called the Cylindrical Gall Wasp that makes galls in the red stems. (Illinois Wildflowers).
They can take some dry, but not too much in my yard. Might depend on your soil and the surrounding plants. If you put them in total shade, they may not flower and fruit very much. They grow actively in the spring and may go dormant in the hot summer.
We also plan to offer Woodland Strawberry (Fragaria vesca), but will list that at a later date.
Companion Plants: violets, woodland sunflower, Penn sedge, wild geranium
Wild Strawberry (Fragaria virginiana)
Michigan Flora reference page for state distribution: Wild Strawberry
Bloom time: May-June
Height: 4-8 inches
Soil: loam, loamy clay
Sun: full sun to shade
Plant spacing: 12 inches
Flower: white, yellow center
Life cycle: perennial
Family: Rosaceae
Seed source: Michigan
Wild Strawberry is an excellent ground cover! It grows in the woods and also in more open areas in the sunshine. It spreads by stolon (an above ground rhizome of sorts) and can also reseed itself.
Most people are familiar with the look of the strawberry plant, leaves in threes, with 5-petaled white flowers either just below the leaves or poking up above the leaves. Wild Strawberry is like this but the resulting fruits are much smaller and much more flavorful. However, if you want to make strawberry jam, prepare to pick berries for hours! ;)
The flowers of wild strawberry can be male, female or perfect (having both male and female parts).
Some say that birds will go after the berries but I have never had a problem either with my wild strawberries or my cultivated ones. However, they provide good food for birds, small mammals, also slugs, stink bugs and a whole host of other insects that use the plant in some way. There is a wasp called the Cylindrical Gall Wasp that makes galls in the red stems. (Illinois Wildflowers).
They can take some dry, but not too much in my yard. Might depend on your soil and the surrounding plants. If you put them in total shade, they may not flower and fruit very much. They grow actively in the spring and may go dormant in the hot summer.
We also plan to offer Woodland Strawberry (Fragaria vesca), but will list that at a later date.
Companion Plants: violets, woodland sunflower, Penn sedge, wild geranium
Wild Strawberry (Fragaria virginiana)
Michigan Flora reference page for state distribution: Wild Strawberry
Bloom time: May-June
Height: 4-8 inches
Soil: loam, loamy clay
Sun: full sun to shade
Plant spacing: 12 inches
Flower: white, yellow center
Life cycle: perennial
Family: Rosaceae
Seed source: Michigan
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