Indian (mock) strawberry, keep or toss?

5 years ago

I have a garden in my back yard that starts out as full sun, and ends in full shade.

In the part shade area of the middle I have several patches of what I thought was astilbe, but as it's grown I've discovered that it's actually Indian strawberry (as noted by the yellow flower).

I understand that this was originally introduced to the US from south Asia as an ornamental plant, but it can quickly take over if not kept in check.

Since it's growing well and likes the area, is this something that I should keep and just pull up the runners every few weeks? Or does it never really get more attractive than this, and I should pull it out before it can go crazy?

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floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK

5 years ago

In the photo the Astilbe has paler green leaves which are mostly divided into five sections along a central leaf stem (pinnate leaves). The Mock Strawberry has darker green leaves with three sections all joined at a single point (trefoil leaves). The leaf edges of the two are also differently toothed. Once you get your eye in you'll see the differences clearly and they won’t look at all the same as each other.

While I agree with Christopher about not necessarily having to weed out the MS everywhere, in this case I think it‘s winning and the Astilbe needs some help.

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Comments (12)

Embothrium
5 years ago
Looks like there's an astilbe in the middle of it
cecily 7A
5 years ago
toss the strawberry
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floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
5 years ago
Yes, there’s an Astilbe and a mock strawberry there. You'll need to disentangle them.
Christopher CNC
5 years ago
Mock Strawberry, Potentilla indica runs wild in my garden along with Wild Strawberry, Fragaria virginiana. Both have visible and showy periods of spring bloom, near identical growing habits and will make a nice groundcover layer.

Taller plants like an astilbe can grow through and with the yellow imposter and the wild native with minor attention to keeping the runners off the top of things. Sending out runners is a short seasonal event. Easy enough to grab the runners crawling on the top of preferred plants. Easier than tediously weeding a plucked flower bed.

So it's really a question of your garden ethos and style of tidy as to whether keep it or not. It is a fine player in a plant community type of landscape.
Jason, zone 7A, near Greensboro NC
Original Author
5 years ago
Well shoot... which one is the astilbe? LOL I followed them down to the roots and it all looks the same to me :-O
cearbhaill (zone 6b Eastern Kentucky)
5 years ago
In my yard both mock strawberry and wild strawberry (I have them both) are considered noxious weeds. I've thought for years that if I could wrap my head around them being a groundcover I'd never have to weed again. But nope- they spread too fast and don't stay in bounds.
Christopher CNC
5 years ago
I went for a walk with my Potentilla and it turns out a main player is the Dwarf Cinquefoil, Potentilla canadensis. I surely have the naturalized fake strawberry, Potentilla indica too, but finding it mixed in with all the Strawberry and Cinquefoil would hurt.

The Liatris is coming through just fine and will be blooming shortly.
Jason, zone 7A, near Greensboro NC
Original Author
5 years ago
Do you all think I can dig it up, expose the roots, and detangle the strawberry from the astilbe?
floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
5 years ago
No reason why not. Just water the Astilbe thoroughly when you replant. While you’re at it you can study the differences in the leaves for future reference.
Christopher CNC
5 years ago
I think you can remove the strawberry WITHOUT digging up the astilbe. Just follow a strawberry leaf down to the crown. Once you can see the strawberry's crown, pull or cut it out of the astilbe.
Jason, zone 7A, near Greensboro NC
Original Author
5 years ago
Welp, I had a little time today to mess with it. If you look closely then yeah, you can tell them apart, but they're VERY similar! If it wasn't for the runner with the yellow flower then I don't think I could have done it.

The roots were completely entwined, though, so I still had to dig it up and divide the main root in half to get the strawberry out :-/ I planted the divided roots back in separate spots and then ran the sprinkler for 20 minutes... hopefully that works!

And hopefully I didn't plant the strawberry and throw the astilbe over the fence... :-O LOL