Heirloom Strawberry Seeds

Can anyone suggest a good heirloom strawberry seed that I can grow here in the UK. Make it a nice flavoured one please.

Mick, I had no joy with a Google search on google.co.uk, google.com, or google.fr...I know you already know about Suttons, Thompson & Morgan, and Willemse....

I'll keep my eye out for you. I was at the garden centre today, and they're just beginning to put out bulbs and seeds and such, so strawberries shouldn't be too long now.

If you can read French, have a look at www.pepin-hier.fr -- they've got a few varieties, but only starts that I can see -- no seed.

Here's a really excellent list of more varieties of strawberries than I've ever seen - with a brief history and links as to where to buy them in many cases.

Good luck!

Last year I grew "Yellow Wonder" wild strawberries from seed. (Seed from Baker Creek.) I actually got some berries this fall, though not many--partly because they were young plants, and partly because something else was eating the berries as fast as they were ripening! They were very tasty. Much smaller and cone-shaped compared to the big red strawberries we're used to. Berry color was a very pale yellow. I am crossing my fingers that they will survive the winter!

I did do a search aswell but only came up with an Alpine variety that only produced flowers and a few fruit.

I should be able to read french, my mother was french. From Bezon, Paris.

Megan, if I can't find any over here I will have to think about importing some from your neck of the woods.

rats...here's the link I mentioned but neglected to add!

http://www.pommiers.com/Pepiniere/graine-et-legume-ancien.htm

Thanks LaFee, I can just about read it. My french is a bit, no very rusty. It's a long time since I spoke it. 31 years really, since my mum died, she was the only one I would speak it to.

I don't know if you use Google or not, but their translate (language tools) is pretty good.

It misses the subtleties, but it gives you the high points pretty well.

Mick, I don't know if you want to try getting any strawberry seeds from Canada, but West Coast Seeds in Vancouver, BC carries two different kinds of strawberry seeds. I am not sure whether they are heirloom varieties or not and have never tried them. However, I do use that seed company a lot, since many of the seeds they carry are heirlooms and many are organically grown as well. The two that are in their catalogue are Mignonette, a French variety which are a bit bigger than the usual alpine strawberries, and another one with bigger berries called Fresca. Their website is www.westcoastseeds.com.

I grow strawberries here in my zone 3b garden in British Columbia. They winter over just fine. So if I can grow them, I don't see why you shouldn't be able to. I don't think your winters are any worse than mine. I only have frost free days from June 12 or 15 to about August 25 and winters can get to -40 Celsius.

Best of luck.

Gwynn

PS. I love your wife's work, btw.

just checked for you.........they do ship internationally. This is copied from their site.
________________________

International Orders
We charge only the actual shipping costs. It is your responsibility
to understand all import regulations and requirements for your specific
country and for the payment of duty or taxes.
Gwynn

Yes, thankyou Gwynn that has helped a lot. I did a search over here for them strawberries and a site came up that sells them so I will give them a ring tomorrow. They even do the the "Yellow Wonder" that Megan said about.

I hope you'll let us know how they do for you I LOVE to see pictures of people's plants and gardens and I've really enjoyed watching your fence go up!

You all could have come and helped then you could have seen it go up in real life.

I will post pictures as soon as I get something to take pictures of.