Fragaria Virginiana - Wild Strawberry

Light: Full sun to shade

Soil Moisture: Dry to Average

A tough, adaptable groundcover that tolerates everything from full sun to shade and wet to dry soil, spreading by runners to form a dense mat that handles foot traffic well, making it a good native lawn or pathway alternative. Its white spring flowers support a wide range of specialist and generalist bees, and it's a larval host for the Gray Hairstreak butterfly. Don't confuse it with the common lawn weed "mock strawberry" (Potentilla indica): this native produces a genuinely edible, sweet berry, if you can get to it before the wildlife does.