Physalis

Last year, I started to cultivate some things in our balcony. This year, we were with my parents in a plants shop, and I decided to try something new. My father suggested his passion: tomatoes. However, I thought that that requires too much work and in my balcony it would get too many insects/diseases/whatever. When I saw a small physalis plant, I got hooked into it: it luckily stated that it was "easy to handle" and that ended up in our purchase.

The plant turned out not that hard to handle as it promised. I planted it in my big vase in May and, since then, it has grown rapidly to become a real plant (we can't open the window anymore...).

I was expecting it to have flowers in the beginning of the summer and fruits around August/September. However, nothing happened until very late in August. When searching information about it, I read that the first year the plant doesn't produce any fruit. I was disappointed but then mentally prepared for this (and I didn't know that the plant should survive the winter) when I started to observe the first flowers. They are quite small and yellow and, unfortunately, being the plant not in the ideal environment, I lost many flowers on the go...

The Physalis requires surely sun, but not too much constant warmth. Or if it is warm, it wants also a lot of water. Many times, at the end of the day, it looked like it had been "cooked", but with a bit of water, the day after it looked very fine again. Without the sun, the leaves look pale and boring: right now, there is not so much sun anymore and, in fact, they are having a not so fancy appearance.

It needs to be planted in a big vase - if not directly on the ground (I am not sure it would be ok with the climate here, though), since the roots become quite impressive. Luckily, in the vase where I planted it I managed to squeeze just a little plant of chilly, so there has been, it seems, enough space for both of them.

It is now November and there are some "objects" that clearly look like potential fruits. I wonder if inside there there is really something, or it is just an illusion.Will we eat them for Christmas??? :)