Strawberry Tree

Ah, what a beautiful thing the Strawberry Tree is, even thought its fruit is pretty horrible to eat. The Latin name Arbutus Unedo gives the game away. Unedo means ‘I only eat one’ and that gives you some idea just how bad the fruits taste. Today we’d say they look more like a sea urchin but to the landlocked ancient Britons this Southern European and Mediterranean tree’s fruit looked vaguely strawberry like, being rounded, faintly warty and bright red.

The tree is actually a bush and will make a maximum of fifteen feet although eight feet is much more likely: the spread in either case would be around five feet. It’s a really remarkable tree because from the very beginning it looks like a gnarled and ancient tree, very much like an olive and it fruits and flowers within the first couple of years, unlike other trees that can take anything up to eight years to be properly productive.

The tree has shredding bark in shades of red and brown and long glossy evergreen leaves. One of the most interesting things is that the tree bears flowers in autumn when the previous year’s fruit is still ripening – a process that takes around twelve months. This means that you see the spiky fruits in shades of red and yellow at the same time as the flowers which are white and pink and in the shape of lily of the valley flowers but much larger.

The tree will cope well with almost any conditions as long as it is protected from frost for the first year or so

© blueworldgardener.co.uk