Strawberry Varieties Article Archives – Strawberry Plants . org

How to Find and Use Alpine Strawberries from the Wild

Have you ever gone hiking and seen some tiny red berries poking out of the ground? You may just have discovered some wonderful alpine strawberries. Alpine strawberries are very similar to the strawberries you find in stores commercially, but they are much smaller. They don’t have runners, and you won’t see fruit much larger than a fingernail. There could be only a few dangling together, giving you a unique opportunity to grab a small number of fruits for a midday snack.

The alpine strawberry is actually a member of the rose family. It is related to the wood strawberry, which is found in France. It is not the same as the mock strawberry, though, which looks similar (and is something to look out for).

Strawberry Varieties

Introduction to the Strawberry Varieties Page

If you have decided to plant strawberries and need help sorting through the myriad of strawberry varieties to pick the right one for you, you’ve come to the right spot! Ever since the Garden Strawberry began to dominate the commercial strawberry industry (see the history section on the Strawberry Plant page for more details), a concerted effort to breed a better strawberry has occurred. Organizations in North America, Europe, and Australia have led the charge. As a result, new and improved strawberry varieties are developed and released almost yearly.

Recommended Strawberry Varieties by State

If you have landed on Strawberry Plants .org looking for guidance regarding planting or growing strawberries, you are in the right place. Many people come here looking for advice on which specific strawberry variety they should plant in their respective states. Well, as one might expect, there are a lot of different climates and growing conditions out there. Each state has its own unique general soil composition, rainfall, and weather patterns.

Consequently, any given strawberry plant variety is likely to do better in one specific region than other regions. While some cultivars are able to adapt to many environments, others have been bred to be highly productive in a relatively narrow climate range.

Buy Strawberry Plants

There are countless thousands of online merchants these days, and they sell every imaginable product, item, thingamajig, and plant. Of course, you can buy strawberry plants online these days too. In fact, there are a host of sellers of strawberry plants just waiting for you to hit their homepage. Well, do you want to know where to buy strawberry plants? Look no further. You can use this page to purchase strawberry plants according to the specific variety or varieties you want at the best possible price. The work has been done for you! Just click the name of the strawberry variety in the table below for which you are looking, and you will jump to a table listing all the known merchants who offer that variety of strawberry plants for sale.

Popular Strawberry Varieties

If you are looking for guidance on which strawberry varieties will grow well where you live, you have come to the right place. Strawberry Plants .org has numerous resources that will help you find whatever it is that you need, as long as it is related to strawberries or strawberry plants. One of the most common problems a gardener encounters is finding an appropriate strawberry cultivar.

There are numerous strawberry varieties in existence. Finding the right one for your conditions can be difficult. The best place to start is likely to find which varieties are recommended for your state (see the recommended strawberry varieties page). But, if you want to just go with the flow, the varieties listed below are the most popular varieties offered by nurseries selling strawberry plants directly to the public.

The Archer Strawberry Variety

It has taken fifteen years for the Archer strawberry variety to come to fruition. There is quite a bit of effort and a ton of patience involved in bringing a new strawberry variety to market. And, the new Archer strawberry variety is no exception. The New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, New York (Cornell University), has finally released the variety that was selected in 2001. Courtney Weber, associate professor in the School of Integrative Plant Science, is the man responsible for this new and exceptional variety. If early indicators are correct, this berry could significantly boost both farming revenues and culinary enjoyment.

Delizz Strawberry Plants & Seeds

Delizz strawberry plants are here! Strawberry plants are constantly being developed and cross-bred in attempt to improve upon the already-great qualities inherent in the small fruits. When the breeding programs scattered across the globe stumble upon (or painstakingly isolate!) genetic traits that result in superior strawberries, strawberry lovers everywhere benefit. It just so happens that a new strawberry variety has been developed and released and will be headed to markets in the United States as early as this spring.

ABZ Seeds, a Dutch company from Andijk-Holland specializing in gourmet strawberries, has developed a new strawberry cultivar called Delizz Strawberry. Delizz strawberries are being produced and sold through the Holland Strawberry House at present, but are headed this way amidst significant buzz, and should be available at some point this spring 2016 (be sure to check the seed and plant directories for availability). They were available in Europe, Asia, and Australia last year (2015).

Fairfax Strawberry Plants

Many people have fond memories of eating strawberries as children on the knees of their grandparents or sneaking a few berries as they filled their baskets from the local pick-your-own strawberry farm. Back during the “good ol’ days” the primary way people enjoyed strawberries was by picking them from their own gardens, picking them from a local farm, or buying them from a local farmer who either picked or had his help pick them for market.

Each month I have people write and ask how to find the “old” varieties of strawberries that their grandparents grew. They testify that the new varieties just don’t seem to match their memories of the strawberries they so enjoyed during those bygone days. The explosive strawberry flavor they remember just can’t be matched by the modern strawberries they buy off the shelf; and, they can’t even get the same flavor by growing their own strawberries from the commercially available varieties available online or at local nurseries.

Novelty Strawberries for the Home Garden

It is finally that time of year again! The winter freeze is in the process of giving way to the spring thaw, and that means it is time to start planning your garden. The sooner you start planning, the sooner you will be ready to plant, and the sooner you will be ready to harvest delicious earth-grown produce. Novelty strawberries could be an option for the adventurous gardener this year.

Since strawberry plants often find their way into many gardeners’ plots each year, I thought it might be beneficial to review some of the lesser-known options. If you have a square foot garden or a few extra rows (or even a partial row) of space to use, you may want to consider branching out into some of these novelty strawberry varieties.

Recommended Strawberry Varieties for Canada

Strawberry plants are, in my humble opinion, a truly fascinating marvel of nature. They are amazingly adaptable; they propagate themselves in a plurality of ways; and they produce a fleshy red, white, yellow, or purple fruit that is universally prized by the intelligent and instinctive creatures that live all around us (including us human folk!). They have developed and adapted means of surviving sub-zero temperatures, and, consequently, can be grown from the warmer temperate regions of our great planet all the way north or south to the frigid regions.

Snow White Strawberry

With the recent surge in popularity of white strawberries, it isn’t surprising that more varieties of the pale delicacy will be coming to market. While the exotic pineberry (see here for all the details: Pineberry Pineberries) is still the class leader, a new white strawberry variety is trying to work its way into the limelight.

The strawberry Snow White is now being sold in the UK. Just as Pineberries began their foray into the market within the bounds of Europe, so also do the suppliers of ‘Snow White’ hope to launch a new wave of these albino-like cousins of the traditional red strawberry. While not technically an albino strawberry, the lack of bioflavonoids do result in ripe fruits lacking the familiar red hue.

Flavorfest Strawberry Variety

For those strawberry enthusiasts who have an interest in the latest and greatest developments in the world of horticulture, I am pleased to spread the word about the latest strawberry cultivar released by the breeding program at the United States Department of Agriculture’s Agriculture Research Service at Beltsville, Maryland. ‘Flavorfest’ is the latest improved variety selected and subsequently released by the program at the end of 2012. It takes quite a bit of work and research and testing for a new variety to be developed, and Flavorfest shows considerable potential.

Flavorfest is well-suited for growing in the mid-Atlantic and northeastern regions of the United States, as well as bordering regions. It should perform well for growers using annual plasticulture methods or the more traditional matted row system, and trials have produced excellent results at various locations ranging from North Carolina into Canada.

Purple Strawberries

Strawberries are big business. Really big business. In fact, the strawberry industry is a multi-billion dollar worldwide business. And, the market keeps getting bigger and better – just like the strawberries themselves. Since there is so much money to be made selling one of the world’s most delightful and relatively easy to grow fruits, new varieties are constantly being developed, refined, and even engineered by manipulating the genetics of the strawberry plant itself. While I am not keen on the artificial manipulation of the core genetic structure of any food, much less something already as delightful as strawberries, it is hard to argue that something new seems to always be making headlines regarding strawberries. Now, the latest in the strawberry color scheme is available for your home garden: purple strawberries!

White Strawberries

What do you think of when you hear the word “strawberry?” You think of springtime fun, the first harvest of the year, and, above all else, plump and juicy RED fruit with an exquisite taste, right? Strawberries are synonymous with the color red. However, what is not known by most is that there are numerous white strawberries as well. In fact, some entire species of Fragaria are white.

If you want to learn about the different types of white strawberries, grow them, or buy the plants quickly and easily, you will be able to do so quickly and easily with the information available on Strawberry Plants .org. This page is your gateway to everything related to the white strawberry and white strawberry varieties.

How Many Strawberry Species Are There?

If you have ventured over to the Strawberry Varieties page and seen the extensive list of strawberry cultivars presented there, you may have thought to yourself, “Just how many strawberry species are there out there?” Good question. When it comes to identifying strawberries, strawberry plant taxonomy comes into play (for introductory information, view the Strawberry Plant page). And, to identify strawberry plant species diversity these days, genetics plays a big role.

One important consideration to keep in mind is that there is a fairly big difference between species and cultivars. Species have a degree of genetic variation that sets them apart from their counterparts while cultivars are identifiable plants expressing genetic diversity within a species (or hybridization). So, how many strawberry species are there?

Genetics of Strawberry Plants

Strawberry plants have a very unique diversity when it comes to their genetic makeup. The genetics of most things are relatively complex, but the genetics of strawberry plants throw an additional twist into the mix. Strawberry plant species have varying numbers of chromosomes (see the Strawberry Plant page for introductory information).

Most species are diploid, meaning they have two sets of chromosomes, one set of chromosomes is normally inherited from each parent. Polyploidy, a condition more common in plants, occurs when multiple pairs of chromosomes are present in the genetic component of an organism. Strawberry species and hybrids can be diploid, tetraploid, pentaploid, hexaploid, heptaploid, octoploid, or decaploid (having 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 10 sets of the seven strawberry chromosomes, respectively).

Southeastern Plasticulture Strawberries

The biggest strawberry producer in the world is the state of California. But, as dominantly productive as the strawberry growers in that state are, other regions of the United States are quite productive as well. Florida is also known as a big-time strawberry state. The standard method used in each of those two states is the typical commercial plasticulture method.

What many people do not know is that North Carolina, and particularly the coastal regions, also has a booming strawberry industry. And, the methods used in that state are spreading to the surrounding regions. In the mid-1980s, NC strawberry growers and NC State University partnered to develop a better way to grow strawberries in the state. The work of this pairing led to slight adaptations of the California and Florida plasticulture practices which resulted in the Southeastern plasticulture method. Southeastern Plasticulture strawberries can be lucrative venture. This post is a brief introduction.

Short-Day June-Bearing Strawberry Plants

Strawberry plants are constantly being cross-bred and tweaked through dedicated breeding programs across the United States, in Canada, and other locals across the globe. There are multiple reasons for this constant selective work on the various members of the genus Fragaria. Strawberries are developed in order to maximize genetic potential so that certain goals are attained. The most common goals are increased production of larger strawberries and increased plant hardiness and vigor for specific climate, region, or growing conditions.

This constant search for a better strawberry has led to multiple different types of strawberries and multiple different cultivars that each possess unique characteristics and production patterns. Hundreds of different varieties have been developed over the years. Some produce big berries, some medium, some small. Some grow well in even the northernmost regions while others flourish in the south. Some strawberry plants produce one big crop of strawberries while others produce multiple crops or constantly produce throughout the growing season. (For a detailed discussion of the various types of strawberry plants, see the Strawberry Varieties reference page.)

Pineberry Seeds for Sale

I have received several requests from people looking for pineberry seeds for sale. Over the last year or two, many people have become interested in the “new” strawberry hybrid that has white accessory flesh and bright red seeds. The introduction of these pineberries into the commercial retail store chain Waitrose in the United Kingdom (albeit on a limited basis) caused a surge of interest.

The unique selling point for pineberries is their unusual flavor. They have a flavor that is a fusion of traditional strawberry flavor with pineapple overtones. Hence, the pineapple + strawberry = pineberry. The pineberry has been billed as a new strawberry variety. In fact, that is not quite accurate. While new to the commercial markets, it is actually quite old. But, as this post deals with why it is so hard to find pineberry seeds for sale, please refer to the longer post that deals with the history and confusion surrounding this cultivar here: Pineberry Pineberries.

Short-day Strawberry Plants

Most people who enjoy eating strawberries that they buy at the grocery store never have any inkling that a multitude of decisions determined the size, shape, texture, and flavor of the strawberries they buy and consume. But, in fact, strawberries are constantly undergoing selective breeding programs to try to breed a bigger, better, more consumer-friendly fruit.

For strawberry lovers everywhere, this is a great thing. Each new strawberry cultivar that is developed as an improvement over an older variety brings more desirable traits to the strawberry market. Everyone understands the benefits of having bigger, sweeter, and more durable strawberries. One trait that is often overlooked by the home gardener (but is very important to the commercial growers within the strawberry farming industry), is the ability to initiate crops and harvests when less favorable seasonal conditions exist.

Pineberry & Pineberries

IF YOU JUST WANT TO PURCHASE YOUR OWN PLANTS, CLICK HERE NOW. If you’d like to learn more of the pineberry’s history and other details, just keep reading…

What is a Pineberry?

The word “pineberry” is a fusion of the words “pineapple” and “strawberry” and refers to a relatively new pale pink or pale orange to white strawberry cultivar that is adorned with red achenes (see the Strawberry Seeds page for more information). Like the modern Garden Strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa), the pineberry is a hybrid of the wild South American strawberry Fragaria chiloensis, which grows wild in some parts of Chile, and the North American strawberry Fragaria virginiana. The pineberry fruit is the result of cross-breeding, not genetic engineering as has been claimed by some. There are actually multiple different types of white strawberries (and new purple strawberries have been developed as well).

Fragaria iinumae Strawberry Plants

Fragaria iinumae is a species of strawberry plants that have garnered some curiosity recently. I’m not quite sure why the sudden interest, but it may be helpful for some to have a summary profile of this species of strawberry plants. So, for the curious among us, here goes!

Unlike the modern Garden Strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa) which, if propagated by seed, do not produce second generation plants whose traits are true to the parents, Fragaria iinumae is a strawberry plant species whose offspring will remain true to the parent plants’ characteristics. The bigger problem is that those characteristics are not very desirable.

Sweet Charlie Strawberry Plants

This page is a profile summary of the strawberry cultivar ‘Sweet Charlie’ (Fragaria x ananassa). It will provide details on Sweet Charlie strawberry plants and Sweet Charlie strawberries so that an informed decision can be made regarding its suitability for varying growing locations and uses. Sweet Charlie strawberry suppliers are also listed.

Where to Grow Sweet Charlie Strawberries

Sweet Charlie strawberry plants are the most popular commercial strawberry variety grown in Florida. They are uniquely suited for use as a short-day cultivar. They are also often grown commercially in North Carolina and California. Sweet Charlie isn’t limited to these famous strawberry states, however. They will generally do well in most of the southern states. USDA hardiness zones 5, 6, 7, and 8 generally provide adequate conditions for productive growth. See the map below for states where Sweet Charlie strawberry plants should thrive. Also, for more details on growing Sweet Charlie plants, see the Growing Strawberries page.

Ozark Beauty Strawberry Plants

This page is a profile summary of the strawberry cultivar ‘Ozark Beauty’ (Fragaria x ananassa). At the end of the page is a directory of suppliers from which you can buy Ozark Beauty strawberry plants. Hopefully, you will find the details here that you need in order to make an informed decision regarding whether or not Ozark Beauty strawberry plants are right for you and your growing conditions and needs.

Where to Grow Ozark Beauty Strawberries

Ozark Beauty strawberry plants were developed in Arkansas and have proven to be one of the most popular and adaptable of the everbearing strawberry varieties. They generally grow extremely well in zones 4 through 8, and can even perform in zones 3 and 9. They are particularly well-suited for more northern climates and the higher elevations in the south. With appropriate care, Ozark Beauty strawberries can survive winter temperatures to -30 degrees.

Chandler Strawberry Plants

This page is a profile summary of the strawberry cultivar ‘Chandler’ (Fragaria x ananassa). It will provide details on Chandler strawberry plants and Chandler strawberries so that an informed decision can be made regarding its suitability for varying uses and growing locations. Chandler strawberry suppliers are also listed below if you are looking to buy chandler strawberry plants.

Where to Grow Chandler Strawberries

Chandler strawberry plants were originally developed in California and have proven to produce exceptional yields in the coastal states as well. The variety is a favorite of commercial strawberry growers in southern California, especially for winter production. Additionally, Chandler strawberries grow well in zone 5 through zone 8 and are well-adapted to the southern states. Overall, however, California strawberry farmers will see the highest yields on the west coast, and strawberry growers in the Carolinas usually see the highest yields on the east coast. The Chandler strawberry variety also does well in home gardens. For more specifics on the cultivation of Chandler strawberry plants, see the Growing Strawberries page.