Last summer, not until about July, I think, judy planted Fragaria ‘Lipstick’ in a shady place in front of a holly. I remember saying at the time: “I’m not sure that’s a good idea…”.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a pretty plant with vivid pink strawberry flowers and attractive ground covering foliage. But it’s not, as they say, backward in coming forward.

Yesterday evening I was doing some after-the-last-of-the-snow-I-hope tidying up and I noticed this slender red stem with a rosette of strawberry foliage at the end. It seemed a long way from where the fragaria had been planted but I found I could trace it back to the original plant - five and a half feet away! In half the summer it had sent out a runner five and a half feet long (that’s 1.7m for metric Brits). As you can see, I got out the tape and measured it. And people get their knickers in a twist about ivy and vinca! They’re snails by comparison.

The thing is ‘Lipstick’, as well as ‘Pink Panda’ and ‘Red Ruby’, are not actually strawberries at all. They’re hybrids between a strawberry and Potentilla palustris. This is not as unexpected as you might think, botanists look likely to combine Fragaria, the strawberries, with Potentilla into one genus. Think of the possibilities! A shrub like Potentilla fruticosa with fruits like strawberries – so much easier to pick! I bet someone has tried to create exactly that.

Anyway… I’m not saying don’t plant ‘Lipstick’, or ‘Pink Panda’ or ‘Red Ruby’ which are just as vigorous. Take a look at the picture on the left, you can see why ‘Lipstick’ is appealing. But just think first, and choose the right situation.

This week I’m going to plant some ‘Lipstick’ outside the deer fence and see what happens. If the deer eat it, I’ll be delighted. If not, that would be really bad news and I’ll have to rip it out.

In North America, you can buy Fragaria 'Lipstick' from North Creek Nurseries. They say: "Fragaria 'Lipstick' has a creeping habit that makes for a wonderful groundcover as well as an accent to almost any perennial in the garden." Hah!

In Britain, you can buy Fragaria 'Lipstick', if you choose, from these RHS PlantFinder nurseries.