Scottish growing tool

Strawberries Variety Selector: Which One For Your Garden

Every recommendation below traces back to our full Strawberries varieties comparison — this page is the fast route to one answer for your specific situation, no clicking through required.

If: One reliable variety, plant and forget or Fruit as early as possible → Not sure, just give me the safest all-round choice or Best for my soil or local climate → Not sure, just give me the safest all-round choice or Disease resistance is my main concern → Not sure, just give me the safest all-round choice or Not sure, just give me the safest all-round choice

Cambridge FavouriteAGM

The safe, proven mid-season pick: medium-sized soft berries with good flavour, excellent general disease resistance, and a good producer of runners for renewing the bed every three to four years. Against eight more specialised options, nothing about it is a weak point, it's the safest choice if only one variety gets planted.

If: Spread the harvest across the whole summer

FinesseAGM

The only everbearer among the nine AGM varieties, giving flushes of fruit from early summer into early autumn instead of one short heavy crop, the direct fix for the late-July gap a single mid-season variety leaves. The trade-off: it produces few runners, so a bed is more likely to need bought-in replacement plants than a propagated renewal.

If: Fruit as early as possible → Just early, that's enough

HoneoyeAGM

An early season, heavily-cropping cultivar with good flavour, one of the two earliest of the nine AGM varieties. It carries the shared virus and grey mould caveats plus a possible susceptibility to Verticillium wilt.

If: Fruit as early as possible → Early, plus a possible second crop in a cool July

VibrantAGM

Early season and heavy-cropping like Honeoye, with the added trait that a second crop may be produced in September if July temperatures stay relatively low, a pattern that could suit a cool Scottish summer.

If: Best for my soil or local climate → Light, dry soil

HapilAGM

An early to mid-season heavy cropper with large, glossy, good-flavoured berries that performs well on poor, drier soils, though that trait isn't independently confirmed. It shares Honeoye's possible Verticillium wilt susceptibility.

If: Best for my soil or local climate → Genuinely damp, west-coast conditions

SymphonyAGM

Bred at the Scottish Crop Research Institute, now the James Hutton Institute, though that origin alone doesn't confirm a Scotland-specific breeding aim. Its genuinely useful, Scotland-relevant trait: it performs well in damper conditions, particularly suited to UK north/west regions, worth trying on a genuinely wet west-coast plot. It may be susceptible to mildew.

If: Disease resistance is my main concern → Verticillium wilt or powdery mildew, general resistance

RhapsodyAGM

Rhapsody has some resistance to Verticillium wilt and mildew, the opposite resistance pattern from its sibling Symphony, which doesn't claim Verticillium resistance and may be susceptible to mildew. On a plot with a known mildew or wilt problem, that difference is the reason to pick Rhapsody. It's also the latest-cropping of the nine varieties.

If: Disease resistance is my main concern → Powdery mildew and vine weevil, especially in pots or containers

FlorenceAGM

A late season cultivar with heavy crops of firm, long-lasting fruit, with resistance to powdery mildew and vine weevil specifically, useful if vine weevil has been a problem in pots or containers before.

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Strawberries growing guide →Full Strawberries varieties comparison →