Photo: Unknown — CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Survives zone 4 through 8
Harvest calendar
Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.
The green or creamy strawberry, native from western Europe across Russia and Central Asia to Turkey; its fruit often stays greenish-tinged even when ripe, with a distinctive rich, musky, pineapple-like flavor rather than typical strawberry aroma.
- Hardiness
- Zone 4–8
- Habit
- Groundcover
- Edible part
- Fruit
- Ripens
- Summer–autumn
- Mature size
- Low rosette 5–20 cm, spreading by short runners
- Light
- Full sun to partial
- Soil pH
- 6.0–7.0 (near-neutral)
- Environment
- Grassland
- Native range
- Most of Europe, east through Russia and Siberia to the Caucasus, Turkey and Central Asia.
- Status
- Both wild and cultivated
- Years to fruit
- 2–4 yrs
- Growth speed
- Seedlings are slow to establish, then growth accelerates once runners begin forming.
- Spacing
- 30 cm (12 in) apart — about 11 per m² (10 per 10 sq ft)
- Leaf shape
- Trifoliate leaves with oval-to-diamond-shaped leaflets roughly 2–5 cm, shiny green above and paler beneath, hairy, with less pronounced serration than related species.
- Root system
- A basal rosette of leaves from a central rootstock, spreading by short stolons.
- Fruit description
- Fruit is greenish-tinged with a red blush, sometimes ripening without turning fully red; sweet and succulent, with a rich, musky, pineapple-like flavor, notably little classic strawberry aroma, and a refreshing acidity.
- Propagation
- By seed, sown in early spring under glass (four or more weeks to germinate, with slow initial growth), or by division of rooted runners in mid-summer, so new plants establish before fruiting the next year.
- Pollination
- Unlike most Fragaria, frequently dioecious — separate male and female plants are needed for fruit and seed set — and also shows genetic self-incompatibility.
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. Prefers fertile, well-drained, moisture-retentive soil across a wide pH range, mildly acid to basic; no specific feeding program documented.
How it spreads. Spreads vigorously by surface stolons, forming a genuinely dense carpet — vigorous enough to crowd out smaller neighboring plants if not managed.
Growing tips. Fruits most freely in full sun and drops off markedly in semi-shade; fruit set can also be sparse because populations are often functionally dioecious, so an isolated plant may not set fruit at all.
Grow journal
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