I have started a herb coner where I planted
peper and chocolate mints, french tarragon, creeping thyme, calendula,
chives, garlic chives, rosemarry (3 year old now and about 2" tall).
I'd like to edge it with alpine strawberry so I can add the dried berries to the
herb tea mixes that I started making and my family took to.
I'll trade for any of the plants above. Would be nice to see one of the rosemarry
bushes to find home in a warmer climate where it could stay put outside.
I have two bushes which I overwintered twice and they are getting too big for
the only sunny south facing window in my house.
I also have to trade Echinacea purpurea, Rudbeckia (I think it's fulgida)
and gay feather Liatris and purple iris (it's a darker purple not lavender).
WANTED: alpine strawberry
Shucks...I had the opportunity to have dozens of free alpine strawberries just this past week, but decided I didn't need them. I could have sent you some. I believe that you can find them at the edge of wooded areas throughout North America & Europe. They are quite prolific here in the Northwest. Maybe you could get permission to collect a few plants from a nearby wooded area.
Oh, well. I have ordered some seeds, but wanted to have a few plants as I don't have as much luck with seeds it seems. They usually germinate fine but the seedlings just don't make it. They kind of wilt/wither.
We do regularly go to parks around here, but I have not seen wild strawberries. Though I did read that they are quite common in the US. That's why I was hoping that some DGs would have some to share.
How about Winter-sowing the seeds? And taking my Lemon Mint off my hands?
xxxxxx, Carrie
I wintersowed alpine strawberries, and they did well. I sowed them fairly thickly, in rows about an inch apart, and when the seedlings had a couple of pairs of leaves I transplanted them in clumps into a flat of 48 cells. When they had filled their cells with roots, they were transplanted out into my garden border.
They do make a pretty and well-behaved border plant, and those little gems of berries are just sooo very tasty!!
They've filled in a lot since this photo was taken in spring...
Our wild strawberries here in the US are generally different than the Alpines, I believe. The Alpines do not throw runners, but multiply from the crown. They have tiny little red strawberries, or some cases, white. The Alpines are better for border edgings, as Critter has used them, but the others are better if you want them to spread by runner, such as in hanging pots. I started my Alpines by winter sowing, too.
critterologist,
That's exactly what I have in mind! Thank you for sharing you technique.
How late did you winter sow them? Am I to expect to see anything to come up before winter?
Carrie,
I will winter sow and hope for the better. I would take you lemon mint. It would work well in my tea mixes :) Since I started the little herb corner, I switched to home made cafeine free teas and started using fresh herbs in cooking. I love the mix of rosemary, thyme and garlic chives in lamb burgers. I wish our growing season was longer.
Weezingreens,
I want strawberries without runners since my goal is a pretty edible edge that would cut on weeding.
I think I put out my wintersown strawberry containers in late February. I used plastic salad bar containers that held a little over an inch of moist potting mix in the bottom, and I put holes in both the bottom (for drainage and watering) and in the top (for ventillation) with a kebab skewer heated on the stove. If you wintersow seeds earlier and have them germinate before winter, the little seedlings will simply perish when it gets cold. You'll find more info in the Wintersowing Forum... many folks have better luck using deeper containers that hold 4 inches or so of potting mix, but since I add moisture crystals to my potting mix and also water if necessary, I have good luck in these containers also.