Indian Strawberry
 

Anyone has got this plant at the moment? Mine died many years back and I
have been looking for a replacement since.

Jeremy

Indian Strawberry
 

JLee wrote:

Anyone has got this plant at the moment? Mine died many years back and I
have been looking for a replacement since.

Jeremy,

I presume you mean Duchesnia indica aka D. fresnii/Fragaria indica.
Its a diminutive strawberry relative with pleasant, short-lived,
bright yellow flowers followed by small, glistening red strawberries
that look enticing, but have no flavour. It is primarily an
ornamental plant, sometimes used in hanging baskets or as ground cover
in milder regions of the country.

It is almost a weed down here and constantly attempts to invade my
garden from the lane outside. I planted a single piece of Duchesnia
back in the early 1990's and had to get rid of it after a couple of
years, since it becomes too invasive in the very rich soil I maintain
for gingers and bananas.. It seeded itself about and spread to
outside the garden, from where it constantly attempts to re-invade.
Gardens that suffer regular frosts would have no such problem.

You are welcome to some pieces if you send an A5 sized SAE - mail me
on for details of my address.

David Poole
TORQUAY UK

Indian Strawberry
 

On Sat, 09 Nov 2002 02:22:31 +0000,
wrote:

JLee wrote:

Anyone has got this plant at the moment? Mine died many years back and I
have been looking for a replacement since.

I presume you mean Duchesnia indica aka D. fresnii/Fragaria indica.

Gardens that suffer regular frosts would have no such problem.

I beg to differ. Fragaria indica is actually fairly hardy. I was
once scrambling up out of the bed of the Cowichan River and in a
crack in the canyon wall was a wee strawberryish-potentillaish
tuft of leaves. Oh, how sweet, I *must* have that cutie pie,
thought I. Little knowing.

Fast forward one growing season and F.i. is now six feet in
diameter from its single crown, and shows no signs of stopping.
It flowers, and the yellow gives its identity away. Hitchcock and
Cronquist "Flora of the Pacific Northwest" say it is widely
naturalized in the region. I dig it up, *very* carefully indeed,
and dispose of it before its invasive tendencies lead to a
complete takeover.

What's the weather like where I found it? Not especially cold,
but snow and frost are common in winter, as the site is well away
from sal****er.

So, please, think not that frost will keep this monster at bay.

I'm lucky. I got rid of mine before it was well settled in, but
it was pure luck I did so.


--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Indian Strawberry
 

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