Landscaping With Strawberry Plants Creatively

Big fat juicy fruit, cheerful blooms and self-multiplying, Strawberry (Fragaria) plants are fantastic garden additions and seem to grow in any sunny location!

But, maybe you don't have a vegetable garden at your home, and maybe you don't want to add one now, but Strawberry plants are versatile ornamentals for a wide variety of other uses in the landscape!

Here are some of the prettiest and most versatile Strawberries that go beyond the garden!

Veggie Garden Favorites
Groundcover
Landscaping Plants
Containers
Lawn Replacement
Types of Strawberries
Strawberry Care

Veggie Garden Favorites

Carefree, easy to grow and ornamental plants that produce juicy healthy fruit? Strawberry plants are all this and more! Small-sized and space-saving, Strawberries are the easy solution for container gardeners, balcony gardening and small lots to still enjoy fresh fruit!

Jewel Strawberry plants are fantastic fruiting perennials that will provide you fruit from summer until fall without stopping! Plus they’re gorgeous ornamentals in their own right.
Wendy Strawberry is another June-bearing variety with large disease-resistant berries and very high cold tolerance.

Groundcover

Include your favorite Strawberry plants in your landscape as groundcover, because the beautiful glossy green leaves are lovely early spring foliage. Soon after they shoot up beautiful white flowers in profusion and attract pollinators galore. Then the flowers quickly become big, fat, juicy berries!

The hardiness of these great plants and their durability are the ideal hell-strip plant and great edging along pathways and garden edges.

Use as living mulch and plant around the edges and between other plants and between shrubs or perennials. Living mulch acts as a protective layer that holds in more moisture in the soil and decreases evaporation, and adds a finishing touch to the garden, instead of leaving bare ground.

Strawberry plants are the perfect addition offering multi-season interest, relatively trouble-free and easy to grow plants that offer the bonus of fruit for your morning cereal and a whole lot more. Figure planting them about a foot apart for a nice-looking ground cover even in the first season.

The Sparkle Strawberry plant is a very low-growing and cold hardy plant with sweet-tart June-bearing fruit that is great groundcover and living mulch.
The Honeoye Strawberry is another hardy plant that thrives in an incredibly wide range of growing zones from 3-9. Sending out loads of runners for steady spreading and multiplying, you’ll enjoy more and more plants as each year passes!

Landscape Jewels

Great foliage, white flowers, excellent fruit, and beautiful red foliage in the fall! Strawberry plants make perfect landscape plants. Don't limit using Strawberry plants to rows in your vegetable gardens. Imagine massing Strawberry plants spilling over your Rock garden, or using Strawberry plants as an edging plant for your perennial or shrub border?

Any sunnier spot in your landscape would be a delicious addition to your Edible Landscape! Use them near your patio where you can see and enjoy the fruit as it ripens if you can beat the wildlife to the incredible fruit that is produced.

You can even incorporate them into a rock wall, soften the bottoms or tops of hardscapes, or even a brick patio where you pull out a few bricks and plant some Strawberry plants to enjoy! If you think about it, Strawberry plants have few limitations so don't be afraid to get creative!

Sequoia Strawberry Plants are heat and cold-tolerant plants with firm berries that soften as they ripen. These big berries are disease resistant and look lovely as garden edging and ground cover.
Quinault Strawberry creates a picture-perfect landscape with plants featuring very aromatic flowers, leaves and berries, so they do as well in the vegetable and herb garden as they do among perennials and shrubs.

Pot it Up!

There’s a reason for a certain type of terracotta planter is called a ‘Strawberry pot’! These tiered and sectioned pots are perfect for container gardeners, balconies, patio gardens and any place sunny where you can grow Strawberry plants vertically, even when you don’t have an actual garden!

Great spillers and color, these blooming, trailing plants add greenery, white blooms and juicy red jewels! You can even use these in hanging baskets! These space-saving gems make growing without a yard or garden a snap!

Berried Treasure® Red Strawberry Plant is a highly ornamental carmine-flowering Strawberry that profusely flowers and fruits! Great in small pots and containers, these are densely growing clumps with beautiful flower color, setting them apart from other white-flowering Strawberries.
The ornamental and unusual White Carolina Strawberry Plant is a Pineberry that has ivory-white flesh and red seeds instead of the typical red fruit. Highly aromatic and ornamental, these are lovely pineapple/strawberry flavored fruit that are as beautiful in the garden as they are in pots, hanging baskets or in the fruit bowl with breakfast!

Lawn Accents

Let these run rampant throughout a trickly patch of lawn or bare patch of ground to add hardy greenery, flowers and little fruit among the grass in an area where grass may not thrive or be patchy.

Great runners and creeping plants for hills and slopes that are dangerous to mow, spreading and looking radiant without any fuss, mowing or worry.

Wild Strawberry Plants will ramble and colonize areas with their dainty runners, slender stems, cheerful flowers and smaller bright red fruit. Great for letting take over the bare ground between perennials and shrubs, or throughout your lawn.

Types of Strawberry

Strawberries were mentioned in some Roman writings in the 200 BC time period. The French paved the way in Strawberry production after a French explorer brought the Strawberry back to France from Quebec.

Strawberries are native to both the northern and southern hemispheres. They are grown in every state in the US. Strawberries are visually stunning and they are produced in a variety of sizes, colors, flavors and shapes. The typical Strawberries grown today belong to the genus Fragaria.

Strawberries come in three types - June-bearing (spring-bearing plants) and Ever-bearing (which produce fruits in the spring, summer, and fall). Then there is the day-neutral Strawberry that will produce throughout the growing season.

Heavy crops are produced with June-bearing varieties, and then they finish berry production leaving behind that beautiful foliage for the rest of the summer! Day-neutral and everbearing plants spread their crops out over the entire growing season.

Strawberry Care

Strawberries need full sun to do their best flowering and fruiting. They can tolerate partial shade but will not bloom as well. Careful not to plant them too deeply, water in well, and you are good to go!

They need moderate moisture consistently for the biggest juiciest fruit but are quite drought-tolerant when they need to be.

Many use straw or arborist mulch around their bases to keep weeds down and hold in consistent moisture throughout the growing season.

We offer all three types to best suit your needs. Using Strawberry plants in your landscape provides double or even triple duty landscape plants that are durable, resistant and put food on the table!

So when choosing plants for pots, landscaping or as functional groundcover, don’t overlook these incredible blooming ornamental plants!

Order your quality Strawberry plants from NatureHills.com today and upgrade your garden!

Frequently Asked Questions

Are strawberry plants perennials that come back every year in the landscape?

Yes, strawberry plants are perennials that return year after year across a wide range of growing zones, with varieties like Honeoye thriving in zones 3 through 9. They spread naturally by sending out runners, gradually filling in as groundcover and living mulch over time. Plant them about a foot apart in a sunny location and they will multiply on their own, giving you expanding coverage and fresh fruit season after season with minimal effort.

Can strawberry plants be used as ground cover instead of traditional lawn or mulch?

Yes, strawberry plants make an excellent ground cover and living mulch alternative, with varieties like Sparkle and Honeoye thriving across a wide range of zones from 3 to 9. Their glossy green foliage, spring blooms, and spreading runners create a dense, attractive carpet that holds soil moisture and reduces evaporation just like traditional mulch. Plant them approximately one foot apart and you will have solid, attractive coverage even in the first season. For best results along pathways, garden edges, or between shrubs and perennials, choose a hardy variety suited to your zone and let the runners fill in naturally over time.

Do ornamental strawberry plants still produce edible fruit when grown in the landscape?

Yes, most strawberry varieties grown as ornamentals in the landscape still produce fully edible, delicious fruit. Varieties like Jewel and Wendy produce large, flavorful berries from summer through fall, while June-bearing types like Sparkle and Honeoye deliver a concentrated harvest in early summer. Plant them about a foot apart as groundcover or edging, and you will enjoy beautiful foliage, pollinator-friendly blooms, and a genuine fruit harvest all from the same plant.

How much sun do strawberry plants need when used as a landscape planting?

Strawberry plants thrive in full sun and perform best with at least 6 to 8 hours of direct sunlight daily, whether grown in the vegetable garden or used as a landscape planting. They are remarkably adaptable and can grow across a wide range of hardiness zones, with varieties like Honeoye performing well from zones 3 through 9. For groundcover use, plant strawberries about 12 inches apart in your sunniest spots to ensure good fruit production and dense, attractive coverage from the very first season.

Are strawberry plants drought tolerant once established in the garden?

Strawberry plants prefer consistently moist soil and are not considered drought tolerant, even once established. They have shallow root systems that make them vulnerable to drying out, which can reduce fruit production and overall plant health. Water regularly, aiming for about 1 inch per week, and use living mulch or traditional mulch around plants to retain soil moisture and reduce evaporation between waterings.

Do strawberry plants spread on their own through runners in the landscape?

Yes, strawberry plants naturally spread by sending out runners, which are horizontal stems that root into the soil and produce new plants. Varieties like Honeoye are especially prolific, thriving in zones 3 through 9 and steadily multiplying to fill in an area over time. For groundcover use, start plants about a foot apart and let the runners do the work of filling gaps naturally. To keep growth tidy and contained, simply trim runners that spread beyond your intended planting area.

Can strawberry plants grow in shady areas of the yard?

Strawberry plants perform best in full sun and are not well suited for shady areas of the yard. They need adequate sunlight to produce strong runners, healthy foliage, and the sweet, abundant fruit they are known for. For best results, choose a planting location that receives at least 6 to 8 hours of direct sunlight daily, and consider using varieties like Honeoye, which thrives across a wide range of zones from 3 to 9, to maximize your chances of success.

How do you protect strawberry plants used as ground cover during winter?

Strawberry plants used as ground cover are remarkably cold hardy, with varieties like Honeoye thriving in zones 3 through 9, but a little extra protection goes a long way in colder climates. After the first hard frost, apply a 2 to 3 inch layer of straw mulch over your planting to insulate the crowns and prevent freeze-thaw cycles from heaving plants out of the ground. Remove the mulch gradually in early spring once overnight temperatures stay consistently above freezing to allow new growth to emerge. For best results, time your mulching for late November in northern zones and pull it back in March or April as growth resumes.

Do strawberry plants work on slopes or hillsides as a ground cover solution?

Strawberry plants are an excellent choice for slopes and hillsides, as their spreading runners and dense root systems help stabilize soil and prevent erosion while providing attractive multi-season coverage. Cold-hardy varieties like Honeoye thrive across a wide range of growing zones from 3 to 9, making them a reliable option for most climates. Plant them approximately one foot apart and they will fill in nicely even in the first season, sending out runners that knit the slope together naturally. For best results on a hillside, choose a June-bearing variety like Sparkle or Honeoye and water consistently during establishment to help roots anchor into the slope.

How do you keep strawberry plants looking neat and tidy in a landscape bed?

Strawberry plants spread naturally through runners, so trimming these back regularly keeps your planting contained and tidy. Space plants about 12 inches apart at planting, and remove any runners you do not want to root by snipping them at the base throughout the growing season. After fruiting, mow or cut foliage back to about 3 inches in late summer to encourage fresh, tidy growth heading into fall.

A Unique Way to Use Strawberry Plants In the Landscape