Monday, July 27, 2026

There's a strawberry in my agave pot!

Back in 2014 I bought a straight-sided chartreuse strawberry pot from Crate & Barrel. At the time I wrote; "I've always had an aversion to strawberry pots, the shape and the pockets. I find them vulgar. Yes I know, it's a weird opinion but it's mine. So imagine how surprised I was when I spotted this chartreuse number at Crate & Barrel and had to have it. Had to." Here's what it looked like back then, after I potted it up as an agave pot...

At some point I found, and filled, a second pot, but the contents have always stayed pretty true to that first post. That is, they weren't strawberry pots, but rather agave pots. Some agaves produce runners at a similar rate to strawberries, so really it's not that much of a stretch.

Things changed this year when my 2026 Hortlandia plant haul included a gift strawberry plant, an Albion. I looked around for a suitable place to plant it, but came up empty. Then I realized it was time to pull the overgrown NoID agave I'd had at the top of this pot for far too long. Why not put the strawberry in there? Indeed.

Don't be thinking I got carried away and bought more strawberries, nope. The second pot stays safely succulent-filled. At the top is Agave lophantha 'Splendida'.

The pockets are filled with Haworthiopsis coarctata, formerly Haworthia coarctata. Behind it grows my deformed (but lovable) Cereus forbesii 'spiralis'.

Now that I've started I guess I'll just go ahead and share what's growing in the driveway planters this season. Musella lasiocarpa, Chinese yellow banana...

In one of the crop tanks, I'm growing a mix of zinnia. I started Zinnia elegans 'Envy' (green blooms) from seed, but bought a mix of "hot" color seedlings—orange and pink—to tide me over until Envy blooms. Meanwhile Envy is taking over!

However, I have had plenty of flowers to bring in the house over the last few weeks...


Back to that agave/strawberry pot. You can see I'm not entirely giving it over to the strawberries, although I did allow a runner to root in one pocket.

There are also a couple that worked their way into the basil.

And a couple others that shot up into the second crop tank. The Albion berries really are quite tasty, I've harvested a handful thus far.

We've also enjoyed a few SunSugar tomatoes.

But are still waiting on the first fruit from Alice's Dream Tomato, a seedling from my friend Mindy.

Did you know there's an edible Persicaria? Persicaria odorata, aka Vietnamese coriander. A neighbor left a couple plants in the Little Free Greenhouse in our hellstrip so I figured, why not? I've yet to cook with it though.

I'm growing Melothria scabra, Mexican sour gherkins again. I love the small "snacking" cucamelons.

Physalis pruinosa 'Aunt Molly's, a ground cherry is also great for snacking while working in the garden. They come wrapped in a paper husk that keeps them clean.

For those of you think I hate flowers, especially pink ones, I give you this...

Nerium oleander ‘Hardy Red’, I adopted it from Jerry at one of our Blogger plant swaps. It's been blooming strong for over two months now...

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All material © 2009-2026 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude. 

11 comments:

  1. Vulgar strawberry pots, ha ha ha. Both the pots look excellent, I hope you ate that delicious looking strawberry after you snapped the photo. Black mondo in a black pot, yes yes. Your basil looks perfect, mine has all gone to seed.

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    1. I did! So good. I pinch my basil all the time to keep it from going to seed, an advantage to it being right outside the back door.

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  2. I have never seen strawberries combined with agaves. Only you could have come up with that idea. And it looks great, maybe because it's so unexpected!

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    1. We'll see how long I let the strawberry live...

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  3. I'm glad to see that you didn't just toss out the strawberry plant but chose instead to treat it as an embellishment for your succulents. Believe it or not, I also have strawberries mingling with some succulents - and I didn't plant the berries. They somehow weaseled their way in when I wasn't paying attention.

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    1. Ah weaseling berries! Do you eat them?

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  4. I had to laugh I don't like Strawberry Pots either but that chartreuse one is a star. Love what you've done with it. As always your gardens are an inspiration

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  5. AnonymousJuly 28, 2026

    My strawberry growing endeavor lasted a single season. Both garden bed and a pot produced thriving plants but not a satisfactory harvest to justify the effort. The strawberry pot is now a home to black mondo grass.
    I'm a fan of Oleander, even with pink blooms (and as expected, I enjoy their scent). Does it get winter protection?
    Chavli

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    1. I detect to scent! Hmm, I wonder if it's me, or the plant? I haven't had to worry about winter protection yet, as I just adopted it at last autumn's swap and this winter last was so mild.

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    2. That should say no scent, NO scent.

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