How to Control Ornamental Strawberries

Lush, creeping ground cover gives the home landscape texture and softness. Ornamental strawberry plants, for example, decorate garden beds by carpeting them with their rich, dark green leaves. From the green carpets, vibrant, pink flowers pop up every spring and fall. Healthy ornamental strawberries often grow quite vigorously and, if not managed, can sometimes spread to seemingly uncontrollable levels. Regularly monitor creeping growth and thin the plants when necessary to maintain tidy ornamental strawberry patches.

Garden pruner, trimmer or lawn mower
Garden shovel
Half-moon edger
2-inch by 4-inch board
Gravel
Edging

Instructions

- 1
  Trim the plants heavily every year, in the first days of spring. Sever plants a couple inches from the ground, using a garden pruner, trimmer or lawn mower. Heavy trimming reins in old growth while also encouraging new growth.
- 2
  Pull up individual plants by the roots as needed to establish minimum 6-inch distances between plants. Adequate spacing prevents overgrowth and dead plant matter caused by foliage congestion.
- 3
  Edge the border of the ornamental strawberry bed, making a deep, continuous slice around the perimeter with a half-moon edger. Remove all vegetation growing in the front 6 inches of the bed.
- 4
  Widen the slice to accommodate the insertion of garden edging. Edging will contain the ornamental strawberry patch. Tamp the ground with the butt of a 2-inch by 4-inch board and fill it with a layer of gravel. Use edging that sits partially underground. Possible edging material includes flexible plastic, cast concrete or upright pavers, found rocks or corrosion-resistant wood. Insert the edging in the trench, packing soil around it.
- 5
  Trim rapidly growing runners or shoots as needed throughout the growing season to control the ground cover, using pruners.

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