One of the things I miss about my Truxton Circle home* is my patio garden. I loved being able to pop out of the kitchen backdoor and grab a few herbs for cooking. I did grow other things, like alpine strawberries.
You will never find alpine strawberries in your local store or farmers market. These things are too fragile to survive transport. But they are supertasty.
They grow in not so sunny yards such as my backyard patio.
Now some of these plants made it to the Maryland abode and with a larger yard with sun, these things flourished. In DC I was able to get a few tasty fruits and was happy. Now with a few more plants because they like the sun (who knew?), I can snack on them when putting around in the garden. I can get a decent handful in one outing, depending on if anything has gotten to them.
What do they taste like? Strawberries. A mushier strawberry.
They do not have runners. They grow in clumps. They have survived several harsh DC/MD winters. The squirrels (and deer) don’t seem to be too interested in them. Slugs like them.
They do grow from seed, but it can be challenging. If you have room or just want the greenery, I recommend them.
*I moved to the suburbs of PG County in 2021 during the pandemic.