Spidra's Alpine Strawberry 'Golden Alexandria'
Fragaria vesca

Alpine strawberries are sort of the poster child for successful fruits in my part of Berkeley. They give you the most for the least amount of work. They give year-round. While you will have to fight slugs and snails to get the fruits, a good spiky mulch really keeps them away pretty well. The plants have beautiful foliage (I like their slightly pointed leaves better than the more rounded hybrid strawberry leaves, beautiful flowers, and tasty fruit. They’re Mary Ann to hybrid strawberry’s Ginger. The only place alpine strawberries have NOT been successful for me is in the hanging planters on my porch. I think that’s due to more direct sunlight than I anticipated for that placement as well as my inconsistent watering. But even then they haven’t completely died there yet.

‘Golden Alexandria’ has red fruit despite its name. (There are yellow/white fruited varieties of alpine strawberries.) Its name refers to the more yellowy-green of its leaves. Its fruit tastes no different than unnamed cultivars, in my experience. Plant it in the middle of regular ol’ alpine strawberries to create some visual punch.