Garden strawberry
Fragaria × ananassa
The cultivated strawberry of grocery shelves and home gardens — a low, stoloniferous herbaceous perennial of hybrid origin (a cross of the South American Fragaria chiloensis and the North American F. virginiana). Dense mounding rosettes of toothed, three-parted leaves carry loose clusters of five-petaled white flowers in spring, which ripen into the familiar cone-shaped red aggregate fruits studded with seed-like achenes. Plants run on above-ground stolons that root at the nodes to form new plantlets, so a single planting knits into a patch.
Climate fit: moderate (62/100)
Edible
Border
Container
Light
Full sun
Water
Consistent moisture
Mature size
3-12" tall · 12" apart
Hardy in zones
4-9
very cold to frosty winters
AHS heat range
1-11
Plant range authored in AHS heat-zone terms.
Native status
Cultivated — no wild native range
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Grown worldwide for its large, sweet, flavorful red aggregate fruit, eaten raw or cooked.
Cold hardiness
These values are location-based: this location's current hardiness is the baseline, and the 2050 value is a projected future climate for this same location.
Now
Zone 6b
Plotwright
USDA Zone 6b
-5°F to 0°F
Well-suited
Zone 7a
Plotwright
0°F to 5°F
Well-suited
In plain terms: This location has cold winters. Its winters are projected to keep warming through 2050.
✓
Well-suited today and still thriving in 2050.
Heat tolerance
Heat tolerance values are location-based too: heat days today are observed at this site, and the 2050 value projects this same location under a future climate.
Loading AHS heat-zone data for this location...
Where this plant fits
Suitable across 41 ecoregions — 40 climate-resilient through 2070 · 1 suited today. Best matches first.
Appalachian mixed mesophytic forests
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Appalachian-Blue Ridge forests
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Arizona Mountains forests
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Atlantic coastal pine barrens
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Blue Mountains forests
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Canadian Aspen forests and parklands
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Central Pacific Northwest coastal forests
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Central Tallgrass prairie
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Central-Southern Cascades Forests
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Chilean Matorral
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Similar plants
Browse lateral options with similar roles, light needs, size, or native-range overlap; these are not filtered for a better climate fit.
Calendula officinalis
Calendula (pot marigold)
An Old World cottage-garden annual grown for daisy- to chrysanthemum-like flowerheads (3-4 inches across) in bright yellow through deep orange, often with a contrasting darker center disk. In cool climates it blooms over a long summer-to-fall window; in hot summers it tends to languish and may need a midseason cutback to rebloom. The somewhat bitter flowers and lance-shaped aromatic leaves are edible, and the petals lend color to soups, rice, and baked goods.
Thymus vulgaris
Common thyme
A low woody herb for sunny edges, between pavers, and herb-garden borders with pollinator-friendly summer flowers.
Satureja hortensis
Summer savory
A fast, bushy annual culinary herb in the mint family (Lamiaceae), native from southeastern Europe to western Asia. NC State Extension describes an erect, multi-stemmed plant about 1.5 feet tall and 1-3 feet wide, with linear, gland-dotted, aromatic dark-green leaves and small lilac, pink, or white summer flowers. It grows rapidly — harvestable within a couple of months of sowing — and is prized for its mild, slightly peppery flavor. Grown as a warm-season annual, it wants full sun and sharp drainage and does poorly in damp soil or shade.
Origanum majorana
Sweet marjoram
A tender Mediterranean culinary herb — a bushy little sub-shrub with reddish square stems and rounded, gray-green aromatic leaves that grows in an upright mound to 1-2 feet. Tiny white-to-pale-pink flowers open from knot-like bud clusters in summer, the trait behind the alternate name "knotted marjoram." Hardy only in USDA zones 9-10; everywhere colder it is grown as a warm-season annual or a pot herb brought in before frost.
Artemisia dracunculus 'Sativa'
French tarragon
French tarragon is the culinary clone of Artemisia dracunculus, grown for the pungent anise-like flavor and aroma of its narrow, glossy green leaves — the defining herb of béarnaise sauce and classic French fines herbes. It is a shrubby, rhizome-spreading perennial that rarely flowers and sets effectively sterile seed, so it is propagated only by cuttings or division rather than from seed. Unlike its wild parent species and the inferior Russian tarragon, this 'Sativa' selection holds the true tarragon flavor.
Hyacinthus orientalis
Common hyacinth
A spring-flowering bulb grown for dense upright spikes of waxy, star-shaped florets in blue, purple, pink, red, or white — famous for an intense, sometimes overpowering fragrance. Plant bulbs in mid-fall for an April bloom; flower quality typically declines after the first year, so the densest spikes often need replanting every couple of seasons. Every part of the bulb is mildly toxic and the sap can cause contact dermatitis, so gloves are advised when planting.
Sources & citations
Cite this page
For lesson plans, articles, or research that uses this page. To cite a single upstream fact instead, use its specific source listed below.
Plotwright. (2026, May 17). Garden strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa). Retrieved 2026, June 24, from https://plotwright.com/plants/fragaria-ananassa
Sources for every fact
Every fact on this page traces to a source. 18 fields cited - 18 source-backed.
Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder
Botanical research database
Backs 17 fields
Identity
Summary
Plant type
Light
Moisture
Hardiness
Heat zone
Size
Spacing
Habit
Design roles
Seasonal interest
Growth stages
Lifecycle
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Wikimedia Commons
Photo · CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication)
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