Alpine "Monthly" Strawberry

Jefferson obtained seeds of the Alpine or Monthly in 1774 ("Fragole Alpine") and in 1807 ("the genuine Alpine strawberry") from Philip Mazzei; and from James Worthington, the Governor of Ohio, in 1805 and 1808. He also purchased plants from the Philadelphia nurseries of both John Bartram, Jr., and Bernard McMahon. Jefferson had high expectations for the Alpine. He described it as "immensely valuable" to his son-in-law, Thomas Mann Randolph, and in a letter to James Monroe in 1795 included it with the skylark and red legged partridge as one of "the three objects which you should endeavor to enrich our country with." The prolific Alpine flourished at Monticello and was so successful Jefferson offered baskets of plants to friends like George Divers. But Jefferson was ultimately disappointed at the yield of this highly flavored, everbearing, yet tiny fruit. He wrote General John Mason, "I think it would take acres to yield a dish," and decided by 1812 to banish his Alpine strawberries to the "truck patch, as I cannot afford them room enough in the garden."

The fruit of the Alpine is pointed rather than round, and the robust plants flower and bear almost continually from April to November. While McMahon mentioned four varieties of Alpine in his Calendar he had trouble securing eight plants of the common Scarlet Alpine for Jefferson in 1807 -- suggesting the actual scarcity of the Alpine in American gardens at that time.

Peter J. Hatch, Director
Gardens and Grounds
January 1997