Fragaria virginiana

Sizes available: Landscape plug

Basics: zones 3-8, 4-7" x 1'+, full sun to part shade, white bloom followed by small but extremely tasty red berry and red fall foliage, not too picky as to soil type, prefers medium to dry soils, is very adaptable

Common names: Wild Strawberry, Virginia Strawberry

Family: Rosaceae

Origin/Distribution: Native range is Newfoundland and eastern Quebec to Manitoba and south to Georgia and Oklahoma, however it occurs in all fifty states and ten Canadian provinces. See what I mean? Adaptable.

Habitat: fields, woods openings and woodland edges, prairies, your unimproved lawn (which is the best kind)

More: Well, everybody loves the berries, including dogs. When us kids would go berrying with our mother in the fields around our house in Standish, our German Shepherd would plunk himself down in the best patches and slobber all over them. Fragaria virginiana is the larval host for (among many others), the Grizzled Skipper, Pyrgus centaureae, Smith's Dart, Xestia smithii, the Purple-lined Sallow, Pyrrhia exprimens, the Crocus Geometer, Xanthotype sospeta, and the Gray Hairstreak, Strymon melinus, all of which are native to Maine. Tarnished plant bugs, leaf rollers, slugs, strawberry weevils, aphids, spider mites, and nematodes are also supported by this plant. Everybody's gotta eat whether they have pretty wings or not. Makes a great ground cover or lawn replacement. I am thinking violets, Danthonia spicata, Luzula acuminiata, and Penstemon hirsutus along with strawberry would make an amazing mixed ground cover. Hmmmmm.

Nursery: Landscape plugs from Kind Earth Growers

Image credits: Honey Petal Plants