First Strawberry Flowers!

[ChanellG]

So, many of you already know about my recent trip to Lowes and the bounty of clearance plants my mom and I brought home. Among those were two strawberry plants; one is fragaria spp and the other is an as yet unknown pink flowering variety -- that I am guessing is fragaria vesca AKA pink panda?

I was hesitant to buy the plants, not sure if I would be successful and the fact that the second plant (pink) didn't have a tag to tell me for sure what it was didn't help. I put each one in a large pedestal planter so they'd have room to spread and pink flowers has been growing and spreading and is now flowering.

I know I should remove the runners and flowers so the mother plant can get stronger, but I want strawberries, LOL! I also want more plants, especially now that it looks like I have an early season and a late season variety. I mean, how cool is that? Especially for two $0.50 clearance plants!

 

[claudine]

Wow, it's such a cute plant, I love how delicate it looks. I hope that soon it will produce delicious strawberries . It was a great decision to buy it.

 

[scotkat]

Excellent Chanelle I took up to Glamis Castle walled garden project pots of strawberry plants and we tasted our 1st Strawberrie last week.

 

[zigs]

You'll probably have a few this year, but they'll crop better next year and the year after, but after that they get a bit tired so you replace them with new plants you've raised from the runners.

Just took some pics of my Alpine Strawberries.

 

[zigs]

This one rooted itself on the step.

 

[zigs]

Excellent Chanelle I took up to Glamis Castle walled garden project pots of strawberry plants and we tasted our 1st Strawberrie last week.

Bet that was nice Kath, had my first one a few days ago

 

[scotkat]

Great photos Zigs there are alpine Strawberries at Glamis and I had never tasted alpine strawberries .

Ever so tasty.

 

[scotkat]

Yes it was there was 3 ready for the 3 volunteers ,think we deserved them.

 

[Babble64]

Your green thumb certainly did the trick! This plant looks healthy and beautiful. And I understand the desire for a strawberry! (After that you can snip the runner, right? LOL)

 

[zolu1112]

Do those have a pink tint to them or is it just my eyes? Either way yay for strawberry flowers!

 

[Jed]

It appears strawberries grow like triffids in your part of the world zigs.
The variety that seems to do best here are the white flowering Red Gauntlet.
The alpine strawberries seem to grow themselves ever so slowly in my hot house.

 

[ChanellG]

Thanks, @Claudine, it takes a little while to get fruit, which can be very frustrating, lol, but it's exciting just the same.

Yes, @Zolu, they are pink. Turns out the other plant is putting out flowers as well, which are also pink. So much for it being fragaria spp, those flowers are supposed to be white.

@Zigs, I am waiting for the runner to set down roots and then I plan to cut it away from the mother plant. It has sent out a second runner that I will also allow to take root, but after that I plant to cut all new ones so the plant will be stronger for next year. That volunteer strawberry reminds me of the rampant Thai basil. What's that pretty flower next to it?

@Babble, the flowers are on the mother plant, not the runners. I don't think the "daughters" will flower for some time, but hopefully they will set roots quickly so I can cut them away from the mother. Now that I know the other plant is probably the same variety of strawberry, maybe I will restrict the number of fruit it produces so it can strengthen. It doesn't have the height or the number of leaves that the one in the photo does. Of course that may have had something to do with the cutworm I recently evicted.

Hey, @Jed! How've you been?

 

[ACSAPA]

Chanell, that plant looks amazingly healthy for a clearance plant. You really have a talent for nurturing plants. I've never seen pink strawberry flowers. That's awesome.

 

[ACSAPA]

You'll probably have a few this year, but they'll crop better next year and the year after, but after that they get a bit tired so you replace them with new plants you've raised from the runners.

Just took some pics of my Alpine Strawberries.

View attachment 706

Wow, you already have a lot of strawberries. Soon you'll have a feast. What do you do with them all? Make jam?

 

[Gardener]

That's one good looking strawberry plant. I tried to grow a strawberry plant of my own, but was unsuccessful at each attempt. I really like growing them because you can easily make more and more of them, and who doesn't love strawberries?