Where to find wild strawberries near Toronto, ON?

[Gatherer]

I'm trying to figure out where to find wild strawberries near Toronto, Canada. Ideally somewhere in the real wild, but a farm will do. I mean real wild strawberries, not a cross with cultivated ones. I used to spend weeks collecting them while a kid in Ukraine, usually averaging 50 liters or more per season. Anyone can help?

Thanks in advance Gatherer (remove XXX)

[Gatherer]

I'm trying to figure out where to find wild strawberries near Toronto, Canada. Ideally somewhere in the real wild, but a farm will do. I mean real wild strawberries, not a cross with cultivated ones. I used to spend weeks collecting them while a kid in Ukraine, usually averaging 50 liters or more per season. Anyone can help?

Thanks in advance Gatherer (remove XXX)

[JoeSpareBedroom]

Try posting this in another newsgroup: rec.food.cooking

Might increase your chances of getting answers. There are people in that newsgroup who'd crawl through miles of broken glass for a bowl of melted ice cream.

[Billy Rose]

You mean what the French call Fraise du Bois? They are small but intensely flavored strawberries.

[Jim Kingdon]

I know that Edible Landscaping sells a strawberry they call Fragaria virginiana. I got one from them and it seems to be doing well (sending out tons of runners, which is OK with me because I want more strawberry plants). I don't really know the exact parentage (was it collected from the wild? if so when and where? has it been propagated vegetatively or via seed? etc). Looks like they ship to Canada but with some extra bureaucracy over a US shipment. F. virginiana is one of the ancestors of the typical cultivated strawberry.

Wild strawberry could also mean F. vesca. This has fruit which are flavorful but much smaller than F. virginiana or cultivated strawberries. I've also seen those in the garden trade, at least (

- this is a California subspecies which my other sources call Fragaria vesca ssp. californica).

For native plants in general, opinions vary about whether you are better off with the nursery plants or collecting in the wild (the latter risks depleting a vulnerable population, or one which is liable to overcollection. When carefully done, with the landowner's permission, this can be a preferred strategy however).

Hmm. Most of what I know has been listed above. It might take some research to try to find out what would have been growing in Ukraine. I wouldn't even know whether what you collected was native to Ukraine, or whether it was an escapee from cultivation (such as the Duchesnea indica, Indian Strawberry, which we have here in North America, but that one has yellow flowers and inedible fruit).

[betsyb]

Is there 4H club near you? Those kids know all the best spots or Gril Scouts?