1. Good Organic Gardening - January-February 2016

FAMILY HEIRLOOMS | Strawberries
Alpine strawberries
are smaller and
less juicy than
modern varieties,
but their abundant
foliage, delicate
texture and scented,
flavoursome fruit
make a winning
combination.
Sweet
success
Among the easiest to grow and most loved of
berries, strawberry plants will reward you
richly with their fragrant fruit
Words Melissa King
Photos Diggers Club, diggers.com.au
It’s hardly surprising that the
heart-shaped strawberry should
have such a long and romantic
history. Some of the earliest
records of strawberries are found in
the writings of Roman poets Virgil and
Ovid as far back as the 1st century CE.
In medieval and Renaissance
culture, the fruit embodied goodness
and purity and was often depicted
as a holy symbol of the Virgin Mary.
European aristocracy adored the
fruit. Strawberries and cream was a
noble indulgence, as were strawberry
wine and perfume.
For centuries, Europeans ate
woodland strawberries (Fragaria
vesca) growing wild on the forest
floor, but it was sometime in the
1300s that the French began
cultivating wild strawberries in the
garden. The French king Charles V
is even said to have planted a prized
strawberry patch in his royal garden.
Varieties
The varieties available here in Australia
sold under the umbrella of Alpine
strawberries are mostly cultivated
versions of Fragaria vesca, grown for
their delicate texture and wonderfully
fragrant fruit that fills the garden with
the scent of lollies. The fruit is petite
and squishy and quite a contrast to
the plump modern garden strawberry;
nevertheless it makes a wonderful
addition to the garden.
You’ll love ‘Fraises des Bois’ (syn.
‘Mignonette’), which grows as a leafy
clump to around 30cm tall and produces
a summer crop of petite crimson
berries that melt in your mouth. The
compact-growing, runnerless plants
make a beautiful fruiting border or
decorative potted feature. ‘Reine des
Valles’ is another lovely choice, with
highly scented red fruit that’s best eaten
straight from the bush.
As the names suggests, ‘Red Wonder’
is another very productive crimson
variety, with tiny flowers giving way to
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