g'day, we've grown the cape gooseberry (ground cherry in the US) over here there is a variety that is all but a native species not in weed proportions but can be found growing in the wild. the best time for picking and eating is after they fall from the bush, and the taste can be somewhat acquired they can taste almost sweet and still have a little tartness as well, my grandchildren love them so they can't be too bad hey? i'll try and find out the common species over here might be it will grow where you are? len Here is a link that might be useful: len's garden page

Thanks so much Pam and Drew51. I don't know the variety, but I got the plant/s from a old farmer and he was a cheapskate - that was 20 yrs ago. I'll be the variety is something like Ribes verycommonrunof themillii I don't see the neighbor much and she seems to be rather unavailable lately. If I run into her, I'll ask. The soil is some loam over gravel fill over woodland soil. Mix. I'm on a hillside (northern slope of about 14 degrees and with tall trees to the south so I get a lot of dappled light and light shade mixed in with the direct sunlight. I don't tend to water them, because we usually get ample rain, although last year was hot and muggy and dry. OKAY, I will avoid getting the leaves wet if I do water. Drew51, I will look into fungicides for fruit. Of course, now in New England we have a week of rain (typical of when the blooms fade and the fruit would begin to form -- it rains for days! The look of the deadened beginning fruit reminds me of (can I spell it) Botrytis blight on things like peonies. I hope that by the time I get a fungicide sprayed on them (when the weather clears up), it's not too late for any fruit. One thing that I DID use this plant for: I've got a window in my garage under that is sort of hidden from the road. I want to discourage any intruders, so in addition to taking other precautions like nearly nailing down the windows, alarms and so on, I planted one of the gooseberries in front of the window. It only gets enough light to keep the canes and thorns growing at a manageable level for my pruners. Thanks again, Pam and Drew

Cape Gooseberry (Physalis peruviana) and Ground Cherry (Physalis pruinosa) are cousins. Two selected varieties of Ground Cherry are Pineapple and Aunt Molly's (from Poland). I believe that Thompson and Morgan also sells a variety of one of the species above called "Golden Berry". Just to confuse things, there is also a tomatillo called "Pineapple" (Tomato Growers Supply). The Pineapple ground cherry is much smaller than the tomatillo. Ground cherries self-sow in many climates. Both cape gooseberries and ground cherries may be mildly toxic before they are ripe. Store ripening or ripe ground cherries at room temperature, in their husks. Here is a link that might be useful: Garden berries This post was edited by carolync1 on Fri, Aug 9, 13 at 1:21

Plummy- I would like to try your seeds. I got a Cape Gooseberry and loved it, but the plants from the seeds are not doing too well- so I'd like to have back-ups! I have 2 fresh purple caimito seeds and lots of fresh Soursop seeds. I also have fresh Ylang- Ylang seeds to trade. In a month or so, I will have fresh green caimito seeds. I also have fresh Chironja seeds (a cross between grapefruit and an orange) and mandarin seeds. If you are not interested in those, I can send postage. LMK- Gwenn