Unfortunately, the similarity stops here, as the ripened fruit is rather mealy and tasteless. If they were sweet and flavorful, this tree would be in everyone's backyard. One of the disregarded attributes is the magnificent bark. The color is reddish-brown and the texture is shaggy. This marvelous combination, placed on twisted and gnarled trunks, offers a truly handsome specimen.
Strawberry trees tend to be multi-trunked or very low branching.
Most plants develop basal suckers creating a dense, bushy appearance. Specimens may be pruned to create an open, vase shaped form or with considerable effort they may actually be trained to become a single-trunk standard preferred in patios or planters. Arbutus unedo is not real particular about soil types as long as the drainage is adequate. It is important that they are not placed where soils will become water-logged. This is due to the fact that the climate of this region is typically dry during the summer and moist during the winter.