I tasted them in Poitiers. I bought some two years ago, when they were much harder to find, from Wicked Wilds. Since then, I've bought from a grower in NJ and there's even someone on ebay who sells bare root mara des bois occasionally.
My NJ source is:
Glenn Gaeckle
Princeton Avenue Growers
16 Princeton Avenue
Berkeley Heights, NJ 07922
hsk15k@aol.com
908-337-4122
I highly recommend him; the plants I had in strawberry jars last year didn't do very well - he replaced them all for free, and has been very helpful giving advice.
Wanted! Sweet strawberries
That's funny - I'm in NJ and I got them from Nourse! I hadn't heard about Gaeckle and a Google search for purveyors of Mara des bois didn't turn up his name. I'll see how I do with these; nice to have another source if I need one.
The ones I tasted were in Lalinde, near Bergérac in the Périgord. I think they're known for their strawberries there; she had other kinds, too.
Hi all. My Sweet Charlie Strawberries are loaded with blooms and berries, just beginning to turn red, thinking I'll get to taste a couple this next week. (Hoping!) These were planted two years ago. Last year's crop was not worth mentioning in production or taste. Hoping for mucho improvement this year!!!
We did go ahead and pull up all the strawberries we had in a 24' x 4' bed . I remade the bed into one that is 24' x 3' and planted it with garlic and onions. We threw the strawberry plants in an area on the North side of the house that gets very little sun and much of the worst of the winter storms. Amazingly, some have survived! I doubt they will do well, but nothing else grows there ,and they are better than having weeds/grass.
There are still a few plants in pots situated in various parts of the garden, and some have volunteered in the walkways. If they produce fruit, the birds are welcome to them.
Just thought I would let you all know that I bought Mara Des Bois strawberries at Miller Nursery in Canandaigua NY. I checked them out at their website and we rode over this morning to purchase some.
They are about $17.00 for 25, not sure about their shipping.
Here is the link:
http://millernurseries.com/
~~Joy
Hmmm, I don't think they carried them when I was looking this winter. I hope they do really well for you!
My Sweet Charlie strawberries are okay. Just okay. Not great! They do have the strawberry flavor, but not sweet. Bugs seem to like them though. Every ripe (think several) has already been tested by some crawly thing. I still ate them fresh from the garden. Maybe that is what's tainting the flavor!?!? They sucked all the sweet out! Dang it!
thanks for letting us know Miller's is carrying them now! they are a great place for berries etc... I'm thinking strawberries & asparagus...
I just ordered a grape vine, a greengage plum, and a pear from Miller's. Glad to hear good things about them.
I wonder if there are different strains of Mara des bois.
That's a good question about different strains, greenhouse gal... I'm not sure, but I'll be bummed if I order new plants and they're not as good! I just replanted half a dozen surviving crowns from a pot of 'Mara' that a friend gave me several years ago... so if nothing else, I can encourage them to runner until I have plants from those, since I know their berries are outstanding!
Some of the hype on Mara des bois suggested that it couldn't be propogated from runners, and then other purveyors implied that it could, so I wondered...If you've got surviving plants I'd try to go with those, unless their vigor is diminished....
I can't imagine why it couldn't be propagated from runners. I've had that basket of them for several years now, and I'm pretty sure some of the fruit has come from plants that weren't the originals (eg, runners that rooted in the pot). It only produced a couple of berries last year, though, so I really don't know, but I figure it's because my plants were so neglected last summer. I'm planning on ordering a bundle because I've got a place where I want to put in a strawberry patch this year... I don't want to wait for my plants (which were pretty neglected last year) to runner.
If Mara doesn't propagate from runners, how do they get new plants? By division of the mother plant? Now I'm really curious.
I did a little googling just now and didn't come across anything about the runners not producing... in fact, the description at pricey White Flower Farms says something about the plants throwing vigorous runners that increase its productivity (and if anybody were going to make a claim that would let them sell more plants, I'd expect it to be WFF... don't get me wrong, their plants are great, but their prices are pretty high).
Okay, I'm not sure where I saw that. There was a fuss being made about their being hybrids and patented on one site. If I run across it again I'll let you know.
They probably are patented, which means you can't propagate them by runners and sell the offspring... but since propagating by runners is such a normal method of cultivating strawberries, I can't believe they're trying to tell growers they must purchase each individual crown... I don't sell either plants or berries, so I haven't checked into the legalities.
I suspect that's what I was thinking of, Critter. I'm not planning to sell anything either, so it seems silly for them to insist on that for a home grower who just wants to eat some strawberries. But the place I got them from didn't mention that.
We just planted the Mara des bois and Cabot strawberries; they arrived from Nourse yesterday. The literature that came with them says that while regular strawberries can be propogated via runners - daughter plants - the day-neutral type like Mara des bois can't be "renovated" and will just bear for one or two years. They advised removing blossoms from those plants for the first six weeks and then allowing them to fruit, while the regular strawberries are supposed to be held back from fruiting for the first year.
Sounds like your experience has been different, Jill?
My little basket certainly bore well for several years, not so much last year, but I figured that was because it was sadly neglected last summer. A couple of runners that I potted up 2 years ago (don't remember if they made berries last year) are blooming now, so we will see. The newly potted runners aren't doing much yet (well, not much that's visible; I'm sure they are filling their pot with roots).
Maybe their advice is for maximum yield/production for commercial growers... these strawberriesare so wonderful that I'd make space for them even if each plant gave me only a couple of berries each year.
greenhouse_gal
I'll never forget back in 1964 driving through New Jersey with my parents on the way to the '64 World's Fair. We stopped several times along the roadside and bought strawberries that were as big as my fist, and deliciously sweet. Of course I was only 14 years old back then but I had big hands. I've always wondered what variety of strawberry I was eating. I also remember the odd-looking green stalks sticking out of the ground that we later learned was asparagus. It made quite an impression on me. New Jersey really is the Garden State.
Jill, I'll be interested in hearing how your plants do this year! If they have flowers they should be giving you something. Have you tried planting them in the ground to see if they're happier there?
hrp50, wouldn't it be great to know what kind of strawberries those were? I hope NJ will continue to be the Garden State and won't get paved over like the rest of the country!
I'm still planning to order some new ones from Miller (have to be sure I can get the bed ready... otherwise it'll be a "next year" project), but if I don't get them then I'll plant the ones I have in the ground in some corner of a bed. I think they'll be happier in their new potting mix, meanwhile. :-)
What kind will you order? I was looking for the sweetest ones I could find, per description. We had Rainier and Seascape as our previous varieties and they were pretty good but not spectacular.
Oh, I'm going for the Mara des Bois, no question. I love their flavor! I might also get some others to plant around, but I've already added a border of seed-grown alpine strawberries to another bed this spring, and we have a local place to go to for picking June-bearers. My thing isn't so much wanting a sweet strawberry as wanting a really flavorful one... I've had ones that are sweet but don't taste like much else... I'll take tart & flavorful over sweet & un-strawberry-ish. LOL
I think you're right that the ones I felt were disappointing were not only not sweet but also very bland. Still, I'd classify Mara des bois as sweet.
I've got a border of Rugen strawberries that I grew from seed last year, planted along the blackberry row. They are blossoming now so we'll get to see what they're like this year. I also have some alpine strawberries that I planted long ago by the porch door. They come up every year and are a lovely treat. Our granddaughter often gets them before we do but there are enough for a taste fairly often. They remind me very much of the wild strawberries we used to find when we lived in Washington State.