Strawberry 'Just Add Cream'

[Vetivert]

Back in the late summer of 2023 I ordered T&M's new strawberry, 'Just Add Cream', which were delivered and potted on in May of last year. https://www.thompson-morgan.com/p/strawberry-just-add-creamtrade/t72197pTM

They soon began to bloom, with large magenta double flowers and upright habit. The looked nothing like the description nor photographs, instead bearing a striking resemblance to 'Summer Breeze Cherry'.
https://www.thompson-morgan.com/p/strawberry-summer-breeze-cherry-everbearerall-season/wkf7884TM

Puzzled, I sent a query to T&M with a photo. They assured me that their horticultural advisor confirmed they were 'Just Add Cream'. I wasn't 100% convinced but dropped the matter. As long as they tasted good I was happy.

The fruit came and were a disappointment. Advertised as having a wild strawberry aroma, these were the blandest of all of the varieties I grow. I chalked this up to small, young plants and a bad season. Unfortunately the same is true for this year's crop.

The T&M webpage still shows plants that look nothing like the ones that were delivered to me. The ones exhibited at Chelsea are the same as T&M's marketing photos. https://www.pumpkinbeth.com/2017/05/chelsea-flower-show-plant-year-2017/#Strawberry_%E2%80%98Just_Add_Cream

Additionally, a licensee on the continent has images of the same plants being propagated.
https://in-vitro.pl/en/rosliny/just-add-cream/

Any ideas about this curious situation? Has anyone here grown this variety?

[Vetivert]

[JanG]

It definitely sounds as though you were right in the first place, and were sent the wrong variety.

Can you take it up again with T & M, with more evidence to offer this time?  It's a pity you can't actually include taste in your evidence and that both varieties are ever-bearing, which further removes an area of possible evidence. But hopefully good Customer Service will take your word for the taste.

[Vetivert]

I'll try again, in the hope that they're able to provide an explanation for the differences at least. I waited 9 months for them to be delivered! They kept delaying the order. I wonder if there was a mix up somewhere in the supply chain.

[Paulh]

I'm afraid I'm not surprised at all. I no longer buy live plants from T&M, however tempting, just seeds and equipment. The quality of the plants I received was poor and made worse by unreliable delivery. One time the order had clearly been despatched at just the right time to spend a long and very hot Bank holiday weekend in a Post Office depot. Another time there was a special offer on buying three dahlia "Bishop of Llandaff": the "1 x 3" on the consignment note was represented by a single tuber. I complained and they eventually sent me a replacement - three unlabelled tubers that were obviously not the Bishop and proved to be bedding dahlias.

So I no longer give the opportunity to disappoint me.