One year I got three new varieties of strawberries to try at once: Seascape, Mara des Bois , and Honeoye. After a couple of years I kept Honeoye and removed the other two. Mara des Bois was supposed to be THE strawberry to try with rave reviews talking about complex flavors. It definitely tasted different, but it was not a flavor anyone I gave it to particularly liked. I found it to have a pretty strong floral taste that I did not like. It was like eating a strawberry while smelling perfume. It seemed to do all right production-wise for an ever-bearing variety, but nobody really wanted to eat them unless they were mixed in with other berries to dilute the "perfume" like scent.

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Probably the best and most delicious of all modern hybrid strawberries. A highly productive day-neutral everbearer, 'Mara des Bois' produces a steady and reliable crop of small to medium-sized berries with the most exquisite tart, sweet, wonderful, mouth-watering flavor with aftertastes of dark chocolate, vanilla and wild strawberry. For some reason, the first crop of spring/early summer produces a large amount of slightly larger berries with a washed out, bland flavor. After that, the plant starts to produce its signature smaller berries with intense, addictive flavor. Despite what some companies advertise, this is NOT a hybrid of the famed fraises de bois (Fragaria vesca or alpine strawberry), but is rather a complex cross created in France between four regular garden varieties of Fragaria x anassana. 'Mara des Bois' produces prolific runners which soon reach bearing age.

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I grew these years ago, splitting a set of $$$$ plants from White Flower Farms with a friend. Absolutely loved the flavor and fragrance, unlike any other non-alpine strawberry. Very excited to get plants from Nourse Farms this spring at a much more reasonable price per plant (even with their shipping, which is on the high side if you're just getting a few items). They are pushing new growth and looking good! Can't wait for a crop. They're an everbearing variety, small to medium size berries, and they do make runners (good if you want to propagate more!).

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