Physalis/Cape Gooseberry

[~Obsidian~]

I looove these, and bought the plant on a whim last Thursday. Planted it straight outside, and it's doing okay. I've read that they can grow about 6-8ft tall and may continue to spread...so in other words they can get a bit out of control! I don't mind :D and they produce alot of fruit...and are supposedly self fertile. And now that there's nothing climbing my arch I might just tie that to it. The fruits should look lovely (although it needs alot of sunlight to mature so might not get much if any), they look like this:

The Plant
http://www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/boga/html/Physalis.alkekengi.ho4.JPG
The Fruit
http://img.alibaba.com/photo/10964192/Physalis_From_Colombia.jpg
Usually used on cakes and things. I think they're a member of the tomato family - they have the characteristic stem which seems to back up the theory!

The pic at the bottom is my one. Oh PS ignore the floppy stems at the back!

[~Obsidian~]

This plant and it's flowers/leaves feel like velvet!

It developed one of the cape things which opened up into a flower. It's a rather pendulous flower, and opens up during the day/closes at night. There's another one developing too I think (if you can see it in the middle of the second pic).

[Tania]

Its the first time when i read about this plant. I never eat the fruits.

[~Obsidian~]

It's still alive :eek: They need alot of sunlight so I'm not expecting any of it to mature, buuuuuuuuut it's a very pretty plant! The 'lanterns' are still green, and look so delicate! I shalt post a pic sooner/later (if I charge the cam :o).

I've got loads of the lanterns (developing fruits), I broke one open last week to see the fruit inside (a shock for me). The plant is around 6 foot, and it branched out (wove itself amongst my dahlias :fighting0010:).