Rodger Whitlock wrote:

I beg to differ. Fragaria indica is actually fairly hardy.....

That may be your exper5ience in the P.N.W. but in the UK it is
moderately hardy depending upon location. In the south it is
vigorous, but no more so than better known ground-cover plants such as
Vinca, Lamium, Hypericum calycinum etc. A series of very mild winters
can enable it to cover large areas by means of runners and seedlings,
but inland and further north its vigour is curtailed by frequent,
medium frosts to minus 7C.

We tried to get it established in light, dryish shade, on top of a
rather high retaining wall up in the Midlands. The idea being for it
to cascade down, forming a curtain of foliage, flower and fruit, as it
will do here in the south. Regular frosts to minus 8C during an
'average' winter killed all but the most well established and rooted
offsets. Original plants were not killed outright, but failed to make
really effective cover.


David Poole
TORQUAY UK