Fragaria Ananassa Ostara or Strawberry Ostara

Fragaria Ananassa Ostara is a tasty and highly productive strawberry plant that produces fruit from June until the frosts hit in autumn.

This delicious fruiting shrub is better known as the perpetual strawberry because rather than producing one large crop in mid-summer, it continuously fruits from June until winter arrives.

Other than its perpetual fruiting, this smart little strawberry plant resembles traditional strawberries. It has green scalloped foliage and pretty white flowers in April and May. Large bright red fruits appear from June onwards. They’re sweet, tasty, juicy and best of all, self-pollinating.  

This is a great strawberry if you like to harvest a few each day for cereal or yoghurt topping.

Height and Spread of Fragaria Ananassa Ostara
Strawberry Ostara reaches six inches in height and spread, then dies down to the ground for winter.

How Hardy Is Fragaria Ananassa Ostara
Perpetual strawberry is hardy in the UK if it’s covered with straw or cloched over winter to prevent rain from rotting the crown.
Pot grow Ostara should be placed indoors somewhere frost-free until early spring.

How To Use Fragaria Ananassa Ostara
Strawberry Ostara is versatile. It grows in a polytunnel, a traditional strawberry bed, a raised border, a hanging basket, a window box, or a balcony container if it receives plenty of sun and enough water to fruit well.
It’s an excellent plant to start a love of gardening in children because it’s easy care and produces fruit each day.
Even if you’re not a strawberry fan, Ostara excels in a wildlife-friendly garden. Its bright white flowers attract pollinators and its ripe fruits feed birds and small mammals.

How To Care For Fragaria Ananassa Ostara
Like all strawberries, Ostara needs warmth, water, and light to fruit well.
Pick a sunny spot in full sun or part shade and beef up the soil with plenty of well-rotted organic matter. Water well during the summer, being careful to water around the roots, not directly onto the crown as this can lead to rot.
Pull away dead foliage as it passes over, and peg down one runner per plant to form a new perpetual strawberry for next year’s harvest. More than one active runner tends to exhaust the plant and reduce its fruiting.
If slugs and snails are a problem, form a protective barrier from straw or wool or add a copper strip to raised beds and containers. Netting prevents bird theft, but be sure to check it every day for trapped wildlife.