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[Jwlehman@aol.com]

My Mother grew them during my childhood and she made Ground Cherry Pie. My  
sister and my wife make ground cherry pie which is one of my favorites. I'm 
in  zone 5B and they come up volunteer every year, more like a weed. So I 
just  transplant them in a short row. They come up in my compost pile. 
Insects  for me aren't a big problem. Planting them with a plastic ground 
cover 
makes  collecting them easier. They are quite a popular garden plant in my 
home town of  Berne, IN. 
 
Ground cherry pie....yum yum!
 
Jerry
 
 
In a message dated 8/19/2014 9:07:12 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
6ducks@gmail.com writes:

I've  eaten physalis spp. before, but this year am growing my first crop,
Baker  Creek Heirloom Seed's 'Ground Cherry'. No ripe fruit yet, but what
fruit I  have doesn't look any bigger than 1/2".  And the bugs are
ferocious--  flea beetles perhaps.
Baker doesn't give the species name for these, but  I'd guess they're
perennials in warmer zones. 
At any rate, I'd love to  experiment with some that might be perennial in a
zone 6.  We have  native Physalis here, why not larger-fruited ones,  too?