Wild Strawberries

Originally from India. Mock Strawberry (Potentilla indica). It appears very much like Wild Strawberry (Fragaria virginiana).

If you’re looking for the marvelous experience of eating Wild Strawberries more than likely you will be disappointed. The Mock Strawberry has very little flavor and is quite dry. But if you’re feeling adventuresome, it is edible.

You’ll find Mock Strawberries blooming in April. I’ve just wandered looking for blooms but didn’t come up with any flowers to photograph. So, they’ll be blooming soon. Their blooms are striking yellow, while Wild Strawberry blossoms are white with yellow centers. Keep that in mind. Yellow blooms are the Mock Strawberries.

The berries themselves are a bit different. While Wild Strawberries have seeds that are set into dimple like depressions in the fruit, and moist, the Mock Strawberry seeds are set on the surface of the round fruit which is dry. Leaves? Very similar. Each of their leaves is compound, composed of three leaflets. The edges of both leaves are serrated but the tips of those serrations on the Mock Strawberry leaves are more blunt, the serrations of the Wild Strawberry are more sharp. Best of luck with your berry hunting and let me know what you find.

Their leaves are out there waiting. Possibly waiting for warm weather to inspire flowers. Wild Strawberries (Fragaria virginiana). Waiting for just the right day? angle of the sun? temperature? Maybe all of those things and others that haven’t even occurred to me.

But in past years there have been blooms as the calendar’s top page turns to April. Not this year. April 1 brought a treat for me, snow most of the day but with no accumulation. Surely temperatures that allow snow to fall would be a bit discouraging for Wild Strawberry blooms. But soon.

The little plants that volunteer in my gardens mischievously establishing themselves right where I’d rather they no be. Plants that show up within my sloping gardens where I’m not so fastidious. They’ll produce something wonderful.

Tiny luscious strawberries. Ripe Wild Strawberries in late May or early June? Maybe. A remarkable flavor. More intense than the best cultivated strawberry you’ll ever come across. Wondrous.