Strawberry variety Victoria

Victoria is an early maturing non-repaired variety of garden strawberries. It can rightfully be called one of the oldest, even the most ancient. Its origin is not known for certain, some believe that it was bred in England and named in honor of Queen Victoria, while others say that the plant comes from Holland, and came to Russia during the reign of Peter I, or maybe it is in general was brought from America. As for the facts, information about the variety has been preserved in various American and French encyclopedias and brochures as far back as the 1860s. If we turn to English sources, they indicate the year of breeding of the plant in 1840, and the name "novelty" was really given in honor of the queen who ruled in England at that time and had, according to some sources, huge gardens with various fruit and berry crops , including strawberries. By the way, in the same sources, the variety is often called the British Queen. Thus, we can safely say that the Victoria variety really existed and is not an invention, and even more so it is not just a general name for various varieties of strawberries that are familiar to us, but to be precise, large-fruited strawberries.

Our heroine is probably the very first specimen, which gave rise to a large-scale history of selection of large-fruited garden strawberries. Anticipating a heated debate over terms, let's start with a short introduction. What kind of animal is this Victoria, and why are we used to calling absolutely all varieties of strawberries on our site by this name?

The confusion in the names arose a long time ago. The thing is that our heroine became the ancestor of that very garden (large-fruited) strawberry, which we used to call strawberries. Perhaps now it has become even more confusing. In general, initially Victoria was really a variety of garden strawberries (lat.Fragaria x ananassa), moreover, the first of its kind, distinguished by large fruits, or maybe not the first, but simply the most popular, overshadowing the previous large-fruited varieties. Then all further cultivated specimens of Fragaria x ananassa, which resembled our heroine in berry size, began to be called Victoria, at least in Russia. Thus, the plant referred to in this article is a variety of garden strawberries or, as it is also called, large-fruited strawberries or pineapple strawberries. So it's not strawberries? Let's figure it out further.

In fact, strawberries are officially called Fragaria moschata (nutmeg strawberries). In short, it differs from the usual garden plant in smaller fruits (weighing only 3-4 grams) with incomplete color - the berries are only partially red, mostly green. In general, Fragaria moschata may have many additional epithets in its name - tall, garden, real, European strawberries. If you dig even deeper, then strawberries in Moscow and St. Petersburg began to be called garden strawberries (Fragaria x ananassa), and specifically, the same species began to be called Victoria in the Volga region.

Finally, let us briefly summarize this lawlessness of terms. Our heroine is a variety of garden strawberries (she is pineapple, large-fruited, with the Latin name Fragaria x ananassa), which has nothing to do with real strawberries (fragaria moschata), and even more so with some non-existent species under the popular name "Victoria". By the way, sometimes a remontant variety appears on the market called Queen Victoria, which has nothing to do with our heroine, and it is generally unclear whether such a plant exists. Perhaps this is just a PR move, and under the guise of such a "queen" you will get some vague individual with an unknown origin.

But let's start, finally, describing a specific variety called Victoria. It should be said right away that at the present time its existence is in question - it was bred a very long time ago, and besides, even in the distant past, it lost its popularity.Thus, it cannot be argued that a plant with a specific set of genetic characteristics has survived to our time. But let's try to describe it all the same, analyzing the data of many sources and bringing them together. Immediately, we will make a reservation that further in the text we will call our heroine strawberry, since it is this name that is more familiar to the reader.

The plant is vigorous, vigorous, large both in height and in diameter. It forms a lot of mustaches. The leaves are large, wide, rich green. Peduncles are weak, laid on the ground under the weight of the fruit. The berries themselves are relatively small, with an average weight of about 10 grams, up to a maximum of 20 grams, but in those distant times, such figures were considered very decent. The skin is bright red at the stage of technical ripeness; when fully ripe, it acquires a dark red, even brick shade. Achenes are yellow, immersed in the pulp to a medium depth. The pulp is light pink, very dense, medium-term, with a moderately pronounced strawberry aroma. The taste of the fruit is sweet and sour, often with a predominance of sourness.

As for the shape of the berries, it cannot be described unambiguously, since the data on this are rather contradictory. If you highlight the "golden mean", we can say that the shape can be from wide-conical-round, to narrow-conical-elongated, the neck is absent. In general, the variety does not differ in the uniformity of fruits, therefore, various variations in forms are quite possible.

Victoria is not famous for its yield, and this has an understandable reason - such an "old lady" clearly cannot be compared with modern novelties in strawberry breeding. It is difficult to give reliable figures, so let's say in words - the yield of our heroine is extremely low. Moreover, strawberries are prone to rapid degeneration, and are very dependent on weather conditions and agricultural technology, so there can be no talk of a large amount of harvest.

The variety is extremely unstable to fungal diseases and various pests, which is why, according to some reports, it very quickly lost its popularity in a long time ago. The plant also does not differ in winter hardiness, frost and drought resistance. In a word, this lady Victoria is very capricious, and her whims extend to agricultural technology. Firstly, she needs the most comfortable weather conditions, without rains and droughts, sudden temperature changes. Secondly, it needs painstaking care, this is regular weeding, and loosening of the soil, and preventive treatments against pests and diseases. In general, everything is complicated with watering - with any deviations from the norm, the taste of the berries deteriorates, the fruits become excessively sour. As for dressings, due to the really ancient age of the variety, it is rather difficult to talk about them. Of course, strawberries will show the best results on fertile, nutrient-rich soil. This is, perhaps, all that can be said.

Now let's move on to one serious issue. What is being sold to us in the market under the guise of Victoria? Indeed, some say with confidence that their assortment contains the very original variety. To be honest, this is very hard to believe. We will be frank with you - most likely, this variety is irretrievably lost. And if you bought Victoria, it's worth wondering what you actually bought. Unscrupulous sellers very actively use all this confusion with names and terms and openly slip buyers what is called a re-grading - plants of unknown origin that do not have outstanding characteristics.

Perhaps the real Victoria survived in collectors' plots, but this is very unlikely. And speaking without embellishment, there is no point in buying this variety, since in all respects it loses much to modern ones.In general, our heroine deserves attention from the point of view of history, but in terms of real use, talking about her is no longer appropriate. But it is still very interesting to learn about such an ancient specimen, the ancestor of the strawberry that is now so familiar to us.