Fragaria virginiana - Wild Strawberry - 3" Pot

Wild strawberry is an exceptional species in every respect: functionally, ecologically, and aesthetically. Wild strawberry thrives in most conditions from full sun to nearly full shade, and from dry, well-drained soils to moist soils. It supports a virtually inexhaustible diversity of species from nearly every branch of life, including myriad bees, wasps, sawflies, butterflies, moths, skippers, beetles, bugs, and flies, gamebirds, songbirds, mammals from mice to black bears, and even several species of turtles. With its ability to spread indefinitely through runners, wild strawberry makes a choice groundcover and is highly effective at mitigating erosion on slopes.

The attractive foliage of wild strawberry is composed of three large, coarsely toothed, oval-shaped leaflets that reach about four inches in length and two inches in width. It produces cute, white, five-petaled flowers in spring that are followed by its singularly delicious fruit in early summer. The foliage changes to various shades of red in the fall, giving a full season of delight. This species was hybridized with the larger-fruiting South American species Fragaria chiloensis to produce the commercially grown variety we are familiar with.