Wild Strawberry Mara des Bois plants (everbearing)

Obtained from the French nurseryman Marionnet, the 'Mara des Bois' strawberry is a variety that is productive, very consistent and provides highly flavourful fruits with a wild strawberry taste. It can be enjoyed fresh or on a tart to fully appreciate its exceptional fragrance. Easy to grow, this award-winning variety has become a timeless classic with enduring success. Preferably planted in autumn or spring for a continuous harvest from June to frost.

The strawberry can be consumed in multiple ways: it can be eaten fresh, with sugar, cream, or sliced and dried before being incorporated into muesli or yogurt. If you have a bountiful harvest, you can also make jams, sauces, pies, ice cream or sorbets. You can also freeze strawberries.

There are 3 categories of varieties:

- wild or perpetual strawberries, producing small fruits from June to October

- non-perpetual varieties with large fruits, flowering once a year in spring and producing very large fruits around June

- perpetual varieties with large fruits, flowering twice a year or continuously, producing large fruits from June to October

Indeed, the wild strawberry or woodland strawberry, present during Roman times and the medieval period, was crossed in the 18th century with a species brought from Chile, resulting in, through successive selections, different varieties with larger fruits.

The Strawberry is a hardy perennial belonging to the Rosaceae family. This variety has a stocky habit, with evergreen trifoliate, ovate and dentate leaves. It produces small white flowers with a golden centre that transform into large red fruits. Botanically speaking, strawberries are considered pseudocarps, with the achenes (seeds) visible on the surface of the skin.

For harvesting, pick the fruits as they ripen, every 2 or 3 days, ideally in the morning. Strawberries are delicate, so pick them with their stalk by pinching the stem 1 to 2 cm (0 to 1in) above it. The texture of the fruit is a good indicator of its ripeness. It should be firm and slightly soft to the touch. Strawberries are rich in vitamins and minerals. They can cause urticating effects in some people as they stimulate the release of histamine in the body.