Pictured: a normal strawberry, ‘Rugen Improved’ alpine, ‘Yellow Alpine’, and ‘Golden Alexandria’ berries

Alpine strawberries. Seriously, have you guys tried these things? They’re like little red garden crackberries. They’re definitely one of my favorite things to grow at home, not the least because you can’t actually buy them in stores. Mine start going downhill as soon as they’re picked, and last at most a day or two in the fridge.

But the flavor! Tart, rich, and sweet. Fall-apart tender and soft, nothing like those woody things you buy at Safeway.

I just wrote an ode to them over at the Christian Science Monitor, and talk about a few of the varieties available:

Alpine Strawberries: Perfect in Foliage and in Fruit

And imagine my pleasure to see that Stevie over at Garden Therapy has just posted about how to save the seeds from alpine strawberries so you can grow them yourself. They’re about $4 a pop at the nursery, so growing your own from seed sounds like a marvelous idea to me, once you’ve gotten a good selection of varieties growing.

Jessi over at Garden Fowl is also a fan, and points out that the white variety has runners, unlike some of the other varieties of alpine strawberry available. My ‘Golden Alexandria’ from Log House Plants is also forming some runners, so I’ll be excited to have more of them in my garden next year.

Have you tried growing alpines? Are you all as smitten as I am?