It is that time of year again, when all the seed catalogs are being send out to get us gardeners excited about another planting season. I like to take some time in the winter to cover some of the new or unique items that I have stumped across. I am going to start with some new strawberry plants available through Burpee. They have a collection this year where you can get 3 strawberry plants and each plant produces a different color strawberry. You might be thinking, wait I thought strawberries were all red. However that is not the case. The most unusual of this collection is called a Pineberry. This strawberry is white with red seeds. I heard about these strawberries about a year ago. They aren’t very common, so your only way to find them might be planting a plant yourself. The plants themselves aren’t as prolific as other strawberry varieties which is why you aren’t likely to see them commercially sold anytime soon (if you do, they will come with a high price tag). The plants also produce small berries, seen as another negative in the commercial biz. Besides the unique color, they are suppose to have a unique pineapple-like flavor.
The more traditional looking strawberry that comes in this collection is called Elan F1. It bears fruit from July to October. So you can enjoy your strawberries over a longer period of time.
The third member of this threesome is the Purple Wonder. This is a Junebearing strawberry plant. Although looking at the picture, I might say these are more dark red than purple, but it’s still a nice contrast to have along with the traditional red and the white Pineberry.
You can buy the plants separately from Burpee for $9.99 or get all these plants in a collection for $18.99. I think it would be a fun collection to grow. I am not sure how much taste difference your getting (the Pineberry flavor could be good), but I think it’s visualizing appealing to eat a bowl of strawberries of three different colors. I am sure your kids would love it. This is why I love serving green beans and carrots together. Look at the picture on the right, doesn’t that just make you more enticed to eat your veggies?
If anyone has grown any of these varieties of berries before, please share with us your experiences in the comment section below.
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