LITFM - Perennial Ground Cherry

Описание: Season Six, Episode 00262

Botanical Latin Name: Physalid virginiana ‘Elmer’

There is no doubt that some of you garden enthusiasts out there are familiar with Ground Cherries (Physalis pruinosa) and their larger fruited cousin Cape Gooseberries (P. peruviana). There are many varieties of ground cherry to choose from such as ‘Aunt Molly’s’ Cossack Pineapple, Mary’s Niagara, Goldie, New Hanover, and this is just a short list. Today though, I bring you a ground cherry like none of these, one that you likely have never heard of. ‘Elmer’ (not a Fudd) is the native species of Ground Cherry (P. virginiana), that is sourced from a Farm in Elmer (not a NC representative), New Jersey. This Ground Cherry unlike all the others is perennial in our climate and has been selected for vigor productivity and most importantly, flavor. For those who have not had the pleasure of eating a Ground Cherry, they are a type of Husk Tomato and they have a flavor that resembles a mix of Pineapple and Strawberry. The Husk is a nice little protective measure it masks the ripe fruit from birds and keeps bugs out; you gently tear it off and eat the fruit. You will know which fruit are ripe by looking for ones that have fallen off or when you gently jiggle the plant colleting ones that fall off. The fruit can be frozen for later or kept in the refrigerator for at least a week or two. The most visible difference between this species of Ground Cherry and the annual ones is that it’s leaves are shaped different, much larger and the plants overall as you can see are pushing into the two foot height range. There is no telling how big they might get in my region but if they reliably produce fruit and new plants I for one welcome my Ground Cherry overlords.

Included is a link to my old Ground Cherry video

Below are links to the other videos:
   • LITFM Garden Shorts - Husk Tomato  

This week there are some links with extra information:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physali...


LITFM Garden Life is intended as a series of videos highlighting a specific plant/family in the Botanical Testing Gardens. The Gardens are located in North Carolina (Zone 8b). Hopefully this video gives you some good garden ideas and if you have questions or comments let me know.

The Blog is here: http://bl2-litfm.blogspot.com/