Below is a link from the CSU site that covers some of the strawberry varieties that grow well in Colorado. For June bearers they list Guardian, Kent Honeoye, Rechief, Delite and Bloomiden. Everbearing varieties listed are Ogallala, Fort Laramie and Ozark Beauty. Day neutral varieties listed are Tribute, Tristar and Fern.

I have grown Fort Laramie and Tristar with pretty good success. My problem is having to put some protection over them to keep birds (or some other critters) from eating them.

There are probably some other varieties not mentioned on the site that will grow well in your area, but this gives you a start.

-Doug
-Lyons, CO

Here is a link that might be useful: Strawberries for Colorado

I'm new to strawberries too, and also looked for info. The site doug linked to and another CSU site (PlantTalkColorado #1208), suggest everbearing strawberries are better in colorado, because they are less likely to be affected by late frosts than june-bearing are. They also mention that day-neutral strawberries are similar to everbearing, but more consistent. Somewhere I saw something suggesting Tribute and Tristar were the best of those, and I ended up going with Tristar.
Looking forward to what others have to say!
hoppity

Thanks for the link, Doug. Hoppithaven- where did you get your plants? I've been looking online and it seems like everyone is sold out or backordered! Must be a popular variety...

Have you looked for them locally, Mary? The garden center linked below looks like a good one, and since you're looking for them pretty early, I think they might have them. Tristar is a pretty readily available variety in Denver, and you might even be able to find them at a box store---but that garden center looks like a really good place to check out. (They say they grow all their own perennials, so they'd be acclimated to your area, and if you can find what you want, it would probably also be a good place to get them.)

You can often find bare root strawberries in little bunches of--I think--25, and they're quite inexpensive that way. And either starting them inside or planting them directly outside, the bare roots usually take off very quickly.

Happy spring,
Skybird

Here is a link that might be useful: Native Roots Garden Center

Maryhm-
If you come to the plant swap in May you can have MANY MANY junebearing strawberry plants. I cannot remember the exact variety I have but they are not any of the types listed above. I have never had any problems with frost, in fact most of the plants do not completely die even with this colder than normal winter. They set fruit in mid to late May and ripen in early June.
I plan to get rid of every single one of them from my beds because I just cant beat the critters to the berries. Let me know if you will be at the swap and would like some.
I have not grown everbearing strawberries here in Colorado so Im sorry I dont have a comparison for you.
Btw, I am zone 5 in Littleton near Lonetree. If you would like to come by my house with your spade in hand and get them earlier than the swap, you are welcome to. Just PM me. :)

Last year, I bought 'Ozark Beauty' which is everbearing, and left them in a pot on the porch over the winter, but they don't seem to have made it. I bought replacements at Walmart this weekend (because they were there, and so was I, LOL) and think maybe I will bring the pot into the garage next winter, since I don't really have a place to plant them in the ground. Anyone else have strawberry plants survive the winter in a container?

Bonnie

Thank you all for your suggestions. Here's an update to my strawberry quest!

I researched all of the varieties you guys mentioned. I finally settled on doing some Tribute and Tristars. Couldn't find anything but Quinalt locally- and they didn't look so hot and were $4-$5 a plant (ouch!). So just as I was getting ready to buy the varieties I wanted on ebay, a lady posted on our local freecycle that she had a ton of free strawberries. She was thinning out her beds and didn't want to just toss them. So I went over and she gave me a bucket full of freshly dug Ogallala everbearings! I put about 35 plants in an 8x4 raised bed that I put together this afternoon, and put another 18 in my greenhouse beds as backups. Still have over 20 left and I'm giving them to a neighbor. So lucky me!! Now let's see if I can get them to produce- hopefully it will be pretty easy since they're used to this area anyway.

Hi. Tristar sounds like a nice variety. Has anyone found Tristars for sale in the Denver area? If so, where please? Thanks.

Hi Khazym,

Welcome to RMG! Try calling these three places to see if any of them have Tristar. TheyÂre three of the best "real" garden centers in Denver. I know PaulinoÂs used to have them, but I donÂt know if they still do. DonÂt wait very long to check. Things go fast at this time of the year! You could also try City Floral, but I donÂt have a link to them!

Timberline

PaulinoÂs

Tagawa

Skybird

Azura - I would love some june bearing strawberry plants - up to 24 ish if you have that many... and if there aren't enough to go 'round, I'll just reorder some more, since they really are inexpensive when ordered bare root (if there are any left!!)

Maryhm - I ordered some last year from Miller Nurseries in NY when I couldn't find any june bearing ones locally. I wanted sweet, and they recommended honeye. I chose June-bearing because I feel I can keep berry plants happy into June, but watering and keeping animals out all summer is too much. I tried some everbearers but they didn't produce a whole lot and I decided that I wanted them all in one big batch - like we had out east.

My plants were green and happy-looking in my raised beds in February, and I watered them because it had been such a dry winter...and it killed them. Bummer to have lost a year...as this would have been my first year of eating them.

I wasn't going to comment here because I don't garden in Colorado and no longer have strawberries. Yoda_chan mentioned Honeyed and I had those and was very happy with the variety. I've also grown Quinalt everbearing and was disappointed in the lack of sweetness.

The Honeyed had no problem in my yard except for an absence of sunlight. I finally took them out and should have moved 'em to Dad's. He has gotten a lot of my fruit trees over the decades and those plants should have gone over there when the shade just got too much for them here.

Honeyed had nice big, sweet, flavorful berries. They had no problem with below zero temperatures or producing berries even tho' there was less and less as a nearby shade tree grew larger and larger.

digitS'

I have had the best luck with Fort Laramie strawberries. They have produced the largest berries in a container and survived last year's winter... But not this year's because I forgot to water them before/during the winter this time around. I keep my pots against the building but that's about it.

I have also tried Quinalt and Ozark Beauty, but those didn't do very well in terms of production for me. They also have never made it through the winter. But then again I am in containers so take it as you will.

Hi Skybird,

Thank you for the warm welcome, and the good guidance. Timberline did still have a few of the Tristars in stock, and the plant label listed Paulino's as the grower.

Thanks again, and happy gardening.

I just bought 25 Fort Laramie Strawberry plants to plant in North Dakota. By reading your posts I am surprised that some of your strawberries dont make it through a zone 5 winter. I read Fort Laramie is so hardy that you dont need to cover it for winter. I live in zone 4a very close to zone 3b. Am I going to have to mulch for the winter with the Fort Laramie? Also how big do the strawberries get on the Fort Laramie? Taste?
Thanks for any help, I usually dont post on here, but google searched Fort Laramie and found this.

Yoda,
Im so sorry that I could not make it to the swap. I do have 24 strawberry plants for you if you would like and we arent too far away from each other. They have blooms on them right now.
Where are you at?