Chinese lantern plant (strawberry tomato)

Strawberry tomato "Chinese lanterns" - Physalis alkekengi var. franchetii.
For winter arrangements!
A plant with numerous shoots 60 cm high. Up to 10-12 orange "lanterns" are formed on one shoot.
Flowering in July-August, fruiting in September-October. Used for balcony boxes, mix borders and winter bouquets.

Location: photophilous. Winter-hardy.
Soil: undemanding to the soil, but prefers those containing lime.
Care: includes watering, weeding, loosening. In dry summers, physalis is watered every other day, in rainy summers - once a week.
During the season, physalis is weeded, as a rule, 2 times, combining weeding with loosening. Winter-hardy freezes only in snowless winters.
Reproduction: dividing the bush, cuttings and seeds. Bushes grow strongly, rejuvenation is carried out after 6-7 years.
Cuttings in July. The young apical parts of the stem are taken on the cuttings.
In the middle lane, physalis is grown, as a rule, from seeds (sowing - in early May) or through seedlings (seeds are sown for seedlings at the end of April).
If possible, 2-2.5 weeks after germination, the plants are fed.
At the beginning of the third decade of May, that is, almost a week and a half earlier than tomatoes, physalis is planted in open ground with distances in a row of 40-50 cm, between rows of 60-70 cm.
Usage: in mixborders, groups, but mainly cut flowers and winter bouquets.

Strawberry groundcherry, winter cherry, Cape gooseberry, Chinese lantern plant, Chinese lanterns, Japanese lantern, strawberry tomato. Bot. syn.: Physalis franchetii Mast.