Barren Strawberry - Geum/Waldsteinia fragarioides

Geum fragarioides, previously Waldsteinia fragarioides, or Barren Strawberry, is a perennial flowering groundcover native to the Upper Peninsuala as well as lower Michigan. Unlike real strawberries, the plant does not bear an edible sweet fruit, hence the common name of "barren." Barren Strawberry reaches 3 to 6 inches in height, and can be naturized into pollinator lawns or used as a groundcover from part sun to shade. It favors dappled shade and is happy living under pines.
 
It grows relatively fast into a dense mat, and is excellent for errosion control, since the rhizomes spread underground instead of surface runners.  It prefers organic-rich, well drained, acidic soil (think pine or mixed pine forests), but tolerates a wide variety of soil conditions and moisture levels as long as they are well drained.
 
Barren Strawberry has bright yellow flowers in mid-spring and strawberry-like, dark green foliage that turns bronze in the winter, adding early spring interest just after the snow melts. It is well suited to rock gardens, shade gardens, erosion control, and alternative lawns. Resists deer. Little is known about its use by insects.
 
Note that there is a Siberian Barren Strawberry, Waldsteinia/Geum ternata, that has been commonly sold by greenhouses as native barren strawberry. It looks very similar, but has rounder flower petals with more of a buttercup appearance. The petals usually overlap and cover up the sepals (the little green flower leaves between each petal). The Siberian variety has bractlets on its sepals (little leaves on the little flower leaves). In addition, the main leaves of the native variety are less lobed than the Siberian.
 
It can be difficult to determine the differences because many pictures on the internet are incorrectly labeled, probably owing to the fact that many nurseries sold the Siberian as the native W. fragarioides without understanding the difference, so people taking pictures thought what they had was native.
This one takes some extra effort to propegate, so we do not currently offer it wholesale.