I don’t remember posting an image of Fragaria vesca ‘Deesse des Vallees’. Here’s one taken recently from our seed production area. Such a shame to not be able to taste the fruit. It is very aromatic.
Fragaria vesca ‘Hawaii 4’
We searched for years for this selection and I must say that the wait has been worth it. This is the selection that was used by researchers who sequenced the genome of the wild strawberry - in other words they identified the genetics of the wild strawberry.
One aspect of this selection that we were and are excited about is that it is day neutral and it produces runners. All runnering selections we have up to now are June bearing. We expected red fruit but this selection produces a very tasty white/yellow fruit that are every bit as large as the larges alpines we have grown. The plants produce a lot of runners and at least some of the runners produce flowers while they are still pretty small. We think that this is a winner and plan to have some bare root plants available for fall 2013. Here’s an image that we’ll share.
Alpine Strawberry ‘Pineapple Crush’
The alpine strawberry crop this year was exceptional. The weather had a lot to do with this bumper crop. Another factor is our fine tuning irrigation and fertilization schedules. Check out these ‘Pineapple Crush’ berries harvested today, 6/22/12. I wish you could experience the aroma and taste of these exceptional berries.