Photo: Will Elder / National Park Service — Public domain · source
Survives zone 5 through 9
Harvest calendar
Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.
One of the two wild species — alongside Virginia strawberry — that hybridized to give rise to the modern garden strawberry; a coastal dune species native to both the Pacific coast of North America and Chile, prized for glossy foliage and large, sweet, succulent fruit.
- Hardiness
- Zone 5–9
- Habit
- Groundcover
- Edible part
- Fruit
- Ripens
- Summer–autumn
- Mature size
- Low evergreen rosette 5–30 cm, thick leathery leaves, spreading by runners
- Light
- Full sun (coastal)
- Soil pH
- 6.0–7.0 (near-neutral)
- Environment
- Coastal
- Native range
- Coastal Pacific North America from Alaska and British Columbia south to California, and coastal central-to-southern Chile into southern Argentina and Bolivia; a related subspecies is native to the Hawaiian Islands.
- Status
- Both wild and cultivated
- Years to fruit
- 2–4 yrs
- Growth speed
- Reaches maturity in 1–2 years; spreads rapidly once established via runners.
- Spacing
- 38 cm (15 in) apart — about 6.9 per m² (6.4 per 10 sq ft)
- Leaf shape
- Trifoliate, glossy dark-green leaflets held on distinctive pinkish-red leaf stalks; evergreen.
- Root system
- Fibrous, with stoloniferous rooting from the creeping runners.
- Fruit description
- Large, sweet, succulent fruit with a delicate flavor; the skin reddens on the surface as it ripens.
- Propagation
- By seed, sown in early spring under glass (four or more weeks to germinate), or more commonly by dividing and transplanting runners, ideally in July–August so plants establish before the next growing season.
- Pollination
- Wild populations are functionally dioecious, with separate male, female and hermaphrodite plants — fruit set isn't reliably self-fertile and can need more than one genotype planted nearby.
The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.
Growing guide
Fertilizing. Adapts to sandy, loamy or clay soils; grows best in fertile, well-drained, moisture-retentive soil at mildly acid to basic pH, with a mulch of pine or spruce leaves.
How it spreads. Spreads indefinitely by stolons, forming a dense, glossy-leaved evergreen mat vigorous enough to be used as a lawn substitute or for stabilizing dunes and slopes.
Growing tips. Fruits best in full sun; part shade is tolerated but reduces production. Excellent for coastal, sandy sites thanks to natural salt and drought tolerance. Watch for aphids, slugs, snails, spider mites and vine weevils, plus susceptibility to strawberry viruses and root rot; remove excess runners and cut back old leaves to manage spread.
Grow journal
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